


Celia Netia

by MarionetteRose



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Additional Warnings Apply, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Crimes & Criminals, F/M, Hatred, Mental Health Issues, Mental Institutions, Murder, Original Character(s), Pain, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:06:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 41,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26295343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarionetteRose/pseuds/MarionetteRose
Summary: On an order from the Mayor of Antagan City, forensic scientist Celia Neita is sent to the city of Gotham to be of assistance to the local police force when they get a case similar to one she'd helped crack a few months prior, with Detective Leah Rosado going along as a fresh eye.However, Gotham is a very different city to that of Antagan and Celia soon discovers that is a dangerous place for her to be, forcing a side of herself she'd thought she'd made peace with long ago to come out and turn her life upside down. There's also the fact that the city is run by criminals and they seem hell-bent on ruining her, even though 'N' is already doing a pretty good job at that.
Relationships: Edward Nygma/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is set in the world of the TV show, Gotham. Characters from that show are used in this story. This story begins at the start of season 3. Set around episode 5 though is diverges from canon quickly. It also contains fictional locations and psychologically unstable characters. You have been warned

Gotham City was a lot more chiller than Antagan City was at this time of year. It was almost unnatural since Gotham and Antagan weren't that far apart. Celia Neita chalked it up to the grey clouds that seemed to always cover Gotham, even on sunny days. Despite the fact Celia was dressed appropriately, she hugged her coat closer as she walked down the path, her brown hair styled in a braid crown blowing in the wind.  
  
It had been two days since the Mayor had sent her to Gotham to help the GCPD out on a case that was eerily similar to one she'd helped her own police force solve a few months prior. It wasn't the same killer, Celia knew that for sure. Antagan's killer had been shot by the police when he'd tried to kill one of them. A team of 8 police officers had gone to arrest him, and every single one had fired at that man several times when he'd attacked, so he was definitely dead.  
  
No, it was a copycat haunting Gotham. Celia didn't know the details of the Gotham murders since she started her temporary placement at the GCPD today along with Detective Leah Rosado. Leah had been the lead detective on the case so she'd also been asked by the Mayor to go to Gotham as well. She'd hadn't really been too happy about it.  
  
"C?" A voice called, and Celia blinked, snapping out of her thoughts. Leah was a few metres away, looking at her with worry and amusement, black hair that was in a ponytail blowing in the wind. Celia blinked again and realised she'd stopped walking at some point and was standing in the middle of the path, blocking civilians path. Her cheeks began to warm.  
  
"Ah, sorry." She muttered, lowing her head as she adjusted the glasses that covered her deep blue eyes, and catching up to her friend in a few quick steps. Leah only chuckled and placed her hand on Celia's shoulder when she came to stand next to her.  
  
"I'd be worried if it wasn't so you." She smiled, and Celia smiled back. They continued walking, with Leah directing them to stick to the side of the path. "What were you thinking about anyway?"  
  
Celia looked at her friend, "The case." She said like it was the most obvious thing in the world and watched as Leah rolled her green eyes and shook her head slightly.  
  
"Of course, I shouldn't expect anything different from you." She tightened her grip on Celia's shouldering, weaving them through the oncoming civilians. "What are you thinking so far?"  
  
Celia smiled, glad Leah was humouring her. "That it's a copycat. I don't know the extent of his copying since we haven't looked at the case yet, but I'm thinking they might have been staying in Antagan City at the time of our case." Leah nodded.  
  
"Got a little too invested in the case," She hummed quietly, pulling Celia out of the way of a rushing businessman, "They could have just done some online research." She offered, and Celia nodded her head.  
  
"That is another possibility. It all depends on the extent of his copying, which we won't know until we see the case file, so we better get a move on." Celia said joyfully and watched Leah shake her head at her enthusiasm before smiling, and they picked up their pace. A few minutes later they'd reached the front of the GCPD.  
  
Celia wandered up to the steps to the window and did a quick glance inside. It was hectic. Police officers were rushing about, some hauling criminals to temporary holding cells, others walking around with files. She could see phones going off, largely being ignored. She sensed Leah come stand next to her and turned her head to look at her, "It's hectic inside." Leah nodded her head.  
  
"Well, it is a police station, and this is Gotham." Celia couldn't really argue with that. She knew that Gotham's reputation as 'The Most Crime-Ridden City in the World' was far from an exaggeration. She'd seen several people pickpocketing, a few doing a bit of ruffing up on people smaller than them and a few prostitutes on their way here. It made her somewhat nervous.  
  
Leah motioned her head, and Celia followed behind her as they entered the police station. Sound amplified as they came to stand on the entrance steps overlooking the inside of the station, with the sounds of phones ringing, criminals swearing and police officers laughing quickly assaulting Celia's ears and causing her to flinch. It was a lot louder than she'd thought it'd be.  
  
Her ears quickly adjusted, and she took in the room. While it was a bit hectic, it didn't look much different from the ACPD on a bad day. Though Celia was pretty confident that this was just an average day for the GCPD. It was rather interesting to watch. Someone from behind pushed Celia's shoulder rather hard, and she stumbled forward, her glasses slipping slightly.  
  
She readjusted them and look up to see a large, greying policeman escorting a dishevelled woman towards the holding cells. He didn't look back at her like nothing had happened. Yes, the GCPD was interesting indeed. She felt a familiar hand on her shoulder and turned to look at Leah. She had a small frown on her face. "Come on, let's go find the captain." Celia nodded and allowed Leah to lead the way.  
  
They passed by a pair of policemen questioning what looked to be a homeless man. He made eye contact with Celia and bared his teeth, hissing. Celia resisted the urge to make herself seem smaller. It didn't take long for Leah to get the location of the captain's office, and a minute later they were standing in front of it.  
  
Leah knocked and a deep 'come in' sounded from inside. Leah opened the door and walked in, Celia following close behind. A large, bald man wearing a simple suit, looking over a file was sitting at the desk, a frown etched deep into his eyebrows. He looked up at Leah and Celia entering, the frown lessening slightly. "Hello, what do you need?"  
  
"Are you Captain Nathaniel Barnes?" The man nodded, and Leah smiled "I'm Detective Leah Rosado," she turned gesturing at Celia, "And this is Forensic Scientist Dr Celia Neita. We're on assignment from the Antagan City Police Department to help out on a case you guys have?" Captain Barnes' eyes went wide with recognition, and he stood up.  
  
"Yes, of course. I was wondering when you two would show up," He held out his hand, and Leah shook it. She then let it go, and he held out his hand towards Celia. After a moment of hesitation, Celia shook it, trying not to cringe at the sweatiness of it. She let go, and Captain Barnes put his hand down, looking away from her to address Leah, and she took the chance to discreetly wipe her hand down her pants.  
  
"Yes, well we had to set up accommodations first, but we're here now." Captain Barnes nodded and made his way around his desk, coming to stand in front of them.  
  
"I'd like you to get started right away. We've got to catch this son of a bitch before he does more damage." His tone was rather aggressive, and Celia frowned slightly. It was completely different from the tone he was using before. Leah ignored it.  
  
"Of course. Do you have a place for us to work?" The captain nodded and led them towards the door. He opened it and gestured towards the second level.  
  
"I had a place up there set aside when I heard you were coming. All of the case files are already up there," He turned to look at Celia, and she unwillingly stiffened under his shape gaze, "And you are welcome to use our forensic lab whenever you need to." Celia forced a small smile and nodded her head.  
  
"Thank you, sir." It came out stronger than she'd thought it would, and he turned his head to look back at Leah. Celia felt her posture relax. She didn't know why but the large man unnerved her, even though he seemed okay. Though he clearly didn't like criminals at all. Just as he was gonna send them on their way, a much younger police officer came running up to them.  
  
"Sir, a dead body has been found at the mayor's office." The captain closed his eyes and took in a deep, rather annoyed sigh.  
  
"Was it the mayor's?" He asked, tone slightly hopeful. Celia resisted her urge to frown this time, instead raising her eyebrow. Gotham had elected a new mayor just the day before, Celia had heard it be briefly mentioned over the radio. The police officer shook his head.  
  
"No, sir. The Mayor is safe, though they're not sure who it is considering his head's been smashed in." The captain opened his eyes and nodded.  
  
"Is Bullock at the scene?" the police officer nodded "Good, thanks for letting me know," the police officer turned to leave when Captain Barnes stopped him, "Wait," He turned to look at Leah and Celia, "Would you mind going with him?" Leah frowned and opened her mouth but closed it when the captain raised his hand. "It will be a good test of your skills." Celia noticed Leah's eye twitch, a sign she was resisting rolling her eyes.  
  
"Of course, Captain." She said evenly, and Captain Barnes nodded before going back into his office, closing the door rather hard and not offering a goodbye. It seemed all Gotham police officers lacked manners. Leah turned towards the young officer "What's your name?" she asked, and the police officer straightened.  
  
"Officer Eric Clay, Miss." Leah smiled.  
  
"I'm Detective Leah Rosado, and this is Doctor Celia Neita, we're the consultants from Antagan City," Office Clay's eyes widen, but he nodded in understanding.  
  
"Of course, if you'll please follow me, Detective." Officer Clay led them away from Captain Barnes' office and towards the receptionist, where Leah got given her gun and holster. She picked up the other gun and held it out towards Celia, who looked at her friend in surprise.  
  
"What? This is Gotham, besides you have a license." Leah reasoned. That was true. Celia had been tested to be allowed to carry a gun when she first started doing fieldwork after she'd almost been killed. Celia looked at Officer Clay, who quickly averted his shocked gaze before looking back at the gun. She took the gun from Leah after a few moments of hesitation.  
  
Officer Clay than led them outside and towards a cruiser. They all got in, with Celia in the back and Leah in the passenger's seat, and he took the driver's seat. It took them twenty minutes to reach city hall, since, even with police sirens going, it took a while to navigate the traffic. "People don't really respect the police here, do they?" Leah asked, and Officer Clay sighed.  
  
"No, they don't" They parked out the front to see two cop cars and a slick black one already parked and people crowded around the entrance. They got out and followed Officer Clay to the entrance, being allowed in right away. They made their way towards the main lobby where the dead body had been found. Officer Clay led them towards a middle-aged man wearing a black hat and leather jacket. He looked done with life. "Detective Bullock?"  
  
Detective Bullock turned. "Yeah?" He asked, and Officer Clay gestured to Leah and Celia.  
  
"This is Detective Leah Rosado and Dr Celia Neita, the consults from Antagan. Captain Barnes wants them on the case." Detective Bullock rolled his eyes and let out a large sigh.  
  
"Yeah, sure whatever." He shooed at Officer Clay to leave, and the young officer did. He looked at Leah.  
  
"So you're Detective Rosado?" He asked, and Leah nodded, a smile on her face. "Well, have at it." He took a step back, gesturing at the ground. Celia turned to look, finally taking in the dead body. It was man, in this late thirties. He was dressed in an expensive suit. Everything seemed mostly intact except for his head which looked like a giant had stepped on it. A few forensic scientists were currently picking up bits of splatted brain.  
  
"Wow." Leah murmured as Celia moved closer.  
  
"Whoa, what are you doing?" Detective Bullock asked her, putting out his hand but Leah hushed him.  
  
"It's fine, she a forensic scientist. She's good at this kind of stuff." Celia ignored both of them, picking up a pair of gloves and putting them on. She knelt in front of the corpse, eyes scanning the body. He looked like an ordinary politician, slightly overweight. She pattered his pants pockets, finding them empty then pattered his jacket pocket, finding it empty as well.  
  
She looked at the bottom of his shoes, noting they were slightly disfigured. She touched them with a finger and looked down at her glove to find it dusted with black bits. She moved to examine his hands and found burns that were commonly associated with electrocution on them. The pads of his fingers had also been burned. His hand was also wet. Gently placing the hand back down, she checked the other one and found similar injuries to the other hand. It was also wet.  
  
She stood up and stepped over the man, leaning down to look at his smashed head. It looked like most of the force had hit the mouth, completely shattering the jaw bone. Whatever had landed on the man's face had been large and heavy to completely destroy the skull. At least over 3,000 pounds of force would have hit the man's face. Celia stood up straight again.  
  
"So, what you got, Celia? Anything useful?" Leah asked, and Celia sighed.  
  
"Not much. It's a man in his late thirties. He was most likely electrocuted before his death, at least over 300 volts. His face would have been smashed in with something large, heavy and round, most likely dropped from one of the upper levels to do this much damage." Leah nodded.  
  
"Did the electricity kill him, or was it his face getting smashed in?" Celia leaned down to look at the skin of his face. It didn't have a reddish tint, and the blood was clotted. She stood back up.  
  
"Electricity." She declared. Leah clapped her hands together.  
  
"Alright." She made to move forward, but a hand stopped her.  
  
"No, not alright," detective turned to look at Celia, confusion and scepticism evident on his face, "I wanna know how you found all that out. I mean, you just glanced over the body." Celia blinked at the man and Leah nodded.  
  
"Well, his pelvis suggest gender, as well as his genitals. The condition of his skin suggests age. There are burn marks on his hand consistent with 300 volts of electricity entering the body, his hands are wet to ensure the electricity would conduct better and his shoes are leather, though slightly melted, suggesting a large amount of electricity tried to pass through them, consist with 300 volts of electricity." Celia pointed at the man's smashed head.  
  
"The man's skull is completely shattered, with the jaw and teeth being the worst suggesting they were what was hit first. It takes 4,000 pounds of force to break the average human femur. The human skull is weaker, meaning we can assume less than 4,000 pounds were used to break this man's skull. Probably leaning towards the 3,000 since the skull is completely shattered. Something large and heavy would be needed to do this much damage, and judging from the breaking pattern, it was round. Not sure, hard to tell without a microscope. The only way something like that would gain enough force to shatter the human skull would be to drop it from a high distance, so from one of the upper levels," Celia took a breath before continuing.  
  
"The man was dead before his face was smashed as his skin doesn't have a reddish tint, which it would have if his blood were still flowing, but it wasn't since it's already clotted which is what generally happens after death." Celia finished her explanation and looked at Detective Bullock to see he was blinking with surprise and Leah was smiling with pride. She looked down to hide her blush.  
  
"That was unreal." Detective Bullock said, and Celia nodded but didn't look at the man.  
  
"Does he have I.D on him?" Leah asked, and Celia looked at her friend, shaking her head.  
  
"No, and his finger pads have been burned to ensure they couldn't be used to identify him. It's most likely why his face was smashed in, to prevent identification." Celia offered and Detective Bullock cursed.  
  
"Great, cause that doesn't make things harder." Celia frowned and did a scan of the room. It was apparent the man had been killed here, but why do it in a lobby? Not finding anything out of the ordinary, she backed up to check out the balcony of the second floor. There was a white piece of cloth with a symbol of a skull printed on it hanging over the railing that a forensic scientist was taking pictures of meaning it didn't belong in the hall.  
  
Celia back up more until her back hit a pillar. She quickly looked behind it and saw an open office door. She went inside and stood in the entrance, looking out. The pillar blocked her sight of the cloth. She moved to the office across from the one she was in to find the balcony couldn't be seen at all from the doorway.  
  
She moved to the last office and stood in the doorway. The pillar didn't block the view of the balcony. In fact, the cloth could be seen clearly. She took a couple steps backwards and could still see the fabric hanging over the balcony. She walked towards the door and traced the labels on the door.  
  
Cooper Tran's Office.  
  
Celia smiled and removed the label, wandering back over to the police. "I've got it." She looked up to see she'd interrupted Leah and Detective Bullock's conversation. She continued anyway. "I've got his identity. Cooper Tran." Leah nodded, and Detective Bullock blinked.  
  
"How?" He asked, doubt present in his voice, and Celia shrugged.  
  
"His office is the only place you can see that cloth clearly, meaning he is the only one who would see it and have gone out to investigate, giving his killer a perfect chance to strike, since he was clearly killed here. I think you'll find he is the employee who didn't check in today." Leah smiled again, and Detective Bullock sighed, sounding defeated.  
  
"Okay, I'll follow it up." Celia smiled and handed Detective Bullock the label. He took it, gave her a quick once over. "You'd make a good detective." He stated, causing Celia to blush, before walking away, muttering about freak genius. Celia couldn't find it in herself to be insulted. It was true, after all. Leah put her hand on her shoulder.  
  
"Good job as always." Celia nodded her head and followed Leah outside. They got a ride back to the GCPD, talking about possible motives for Mr Tran's death. All of them had to do with the newly elected Mayor Cobblepot. Leah had learned from Detective Bullock that he was a former criminal which would explain Captain Barnes distaste for him.  
  
She'd never met him, so she had no room to judge him, but it would make sense if Mr Tran's death was connected with Mayor Cobblepot's election. Just because he won doesn't mean that every Gotham citizen will be on his side, especially if he was a former criminal. It takes them longer to get back to the GCPD, traffic worse with approaching rush hour.  
  
Once back inside the GCPD, Leah headed for Captain Barnes office. In contrast, Celia immediately headed towards the second floor and towards their working area, wanting to get started on the case she'd actually come for right away. Only to discover that the files she needed weren't there. She let out a sigh. Figured this would happen. She turned and stopped a passing police officer.  
  
"Hi, um I was wondering where you keep your case files. I'm…new." The policewoman smiled at her.  
  
"You must be looking for the Burn-Blade case files?" Celia nodded, "Mr York took them back to the archives. It's just past the forensic lab." Celia thanked the woman, and she left. She then made her way towards the records room, following the policewoman's instructions. She made sure to peek inside the forensic lab along the way to check it out. She quickly found the records room and knocked.  
  
"Come in." She opened the door to find a young man getting up from his desk. He didn't look up at her coming in.  
  
"Hi, I'm looking for the Burn-Blade case files?" Celia asked, and the man looked up, making his way around the desk. He had a bored look on his face.  
  
"Yeah, they are just in the back. If you checking them out, sign your name. Now, if you'll excuse me, it's lunchtime." And with that the man grabbed his coat and walked past Celia, accidentally bumping her on his way out. He didn't apologise. Celia sighed and made her way towards the back.  
  
"It's like no one's heard of manners in this city." She muttered quietly to herself, finding the Burn-Blade case files in a box and taking the lid off.  
  
_"I know, right?! It makes me want to hurt them,"_ A voice too similar to her own said, and Celia jumped, quickly standing up and spinning around to see herself leaning against the desk, smirking. _"Hi,"_ Though it didn't look like her. She wore glasses, and her hair was half up in a braid crown. This other version of herself didn't wear glasses, and her hair was completely down. _"Took you long enough to get some time alone."_  
  
Celia let out a breath. "It's just you." She said, and her other self just scoffed.  
  
_"Naturally. Why, were you expecting someone else?"_ Celia didn't justify that jab with an answer and instead crouch back down to look inside the case file box.  
  
"What are you doing here, N?" She questioned, and 'N' laughed.  
  
_"I can't talk to you anymore?"_ 'N' teased and Celia sighed.  
  
"Not while I'm at work, No. Especially not today. I don't need these people thinking I'm crazy." Celia muttered and 'N' laughed again, though it was a bit more manic.  
  
_"But you are crazy."_ Celia sighed and stood up and suddenly 'N' was in front of her _"Don't be ashamed CeCe. There's nothing wrong with being crazy."_ Celia glared at herself.  
  
"Maybe that's true in Antagan, but this is Gotham. Things work differently." Celia reasoned and 'N' smirked.  
  
_"Oh, I know, and I can't wait to get out and explore this crime-ridden city."_ She taunted, and Celia glared harder.  
  
"That's not going to happen. At least not in the way you want." 'N' smiled maliciously.  
  
_"And what do I want?"_ Celia scoffed at herself.  
  
"We both know what you want, and it's not going to happen." A loud bang sounded from outside, and Celia looked away from 'N' to make sure she was still alone. She looked back to see 'N' had disappeared. But her chuckling voice still sounded in the air around her.  
  
_"We'll see about that."_  
  
Celia closed her eyes and let out a sigh. 'N' had been acting a bit more aggressive ever since the news that Celia was going to Gotham was made known to her. She was up to something or was waiting for something. Celia wasn't sure what but she knew it couldn't be anything good. It rarely was when it came to her darker self.  
  
Pushing 'N' aside, she bent down and put the lid back on the box before picking up. She couldn't worry about 'N' at the minute, not when there were more important things to worry about. Besides, the quicker she solved the case, the faster she could leave Gotham, and the faster 'N' would return to normal. At least, she hoped so…


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Celia meets the infamous Edward Nygma when he visits the police station for the Red Hood Investigation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to point out any mistakes

Celia was in the middle of reading over one of the several Burn-blade case files when the loud chatter of the police station she'd become accustomed to in the past few days died down before going completely silent. Frowning, Celia lowered the file and made her way to the edge of the balcony where she could see over the entire lower floor. She saw everyone was looking towards the entrance, so she followed their gaze to see what had silenced them.  
  
It was a tall, handsome man dressed in a well-fitted black suit, his short brown hair was slick back, and he wore large, square glasses. He was too far away to see eye colour. Celia watched as his gaze swept around the room, curious yet amused. Suddenly he smiled and started speaking, "Wow," he then laughed "It is good to be back. I have missed all of you!"  
  
He then looked forward, directly at Detective Bullock "Harvey, still a stranger to a haircut and a shave, I see." Captain Barnes then interrupted the man.  
  
"What are you doing here, Nygma?" He tone was serious, and a bit anger-filled. The last name sounded familiar. Mr Nygma smirked.  
  
"As Mayor Cobblepot's chief of staff, I'm gonna be your liaison on the Red Hood investigation as well as the Cooper Tran one," His tone had lost its humour, going all business. He made his way down the stairs, everyone's eyes tracking him, "I wanna see all reports, and I'm gonna need access to your forensic lab." Captain Barnes stepped in front of the man, stopping him in his path.  
  
"You think I'm just gonna let you walk into my precinct?" The man chuckled, but Captain Barnes continued. "You're a cop killer who should be in the loony bin," Celia felt her blood go cold, and her heart-rate speed up at those words, "I'll be damned-" The man - Mr Nygma - cut him off.  
  
"You'll be fired." Captain Barnes looked confused for a few seconds.  
  
"The mayor can't fire me." Mr Nygma didn't flinch.  
  
"No, but he can appoint a new police commissioner who will." Captain Barnes closed his mouth, unable to fight against the man's words. "So…you will carry out the mayor's orders without question, or the GCPD has a new captain. How does that sound?" Mr Nygma smiled, and Captain Barnes smiled back, but there was no friendliness to it.  
  
"Every dog has its day, Nygma," The man just smiled more at the words, "Enjoy yours." And with that, the captain walked away. Mr Nygma watched him go as Detective Bullock walked up to him, drawing his attention.  
  
"And where is our lord mayor? Hiding under his desk?" Mr Nygma smiled despite Detective Bullock's hostile tone.  
  
"He's meeting with constituents." Detective Bullock nodded before glaring at the man one last time than walking away, and like that everyone went back to work though it was a lot quieter than before. Celia watched Mr Nygma watched everyone get back to work.  
  
"Nygma…" She muttered under her breath. The name sounded so familiar, but Celia couldn't place where she'd heard it.  
  
 _"Edward Nygma,"_ An all too familiar voice sounded and Celia turned to see 'N' leaning against the balcony, arms crossed, smirking. " _A forensic scientist turned murderer,"_ She laughed, _"Word is he use to work here. Was good at his job too."_ Celia turned back to see the man was approaching the stairs, no doubt intending to come up them. Celia quickly turned away and walked back over to her work spot, opening the file she was still holding. She felt 'N's eyes on her but ignored them in favouring of rereading a sentence.  
  
_"I'm surprised you didn't know that considering you're usually so thorough when it comes to your job."_ 'N' mocked. Celia didn't rise to her challenge. She couldn't be seen bickering with nothing but the air in front of colleagues, even if they were temporary. _"Oh wait, I guess you did know since I am you."_ 'N' continued and Celia rolled her eyes, turning the file page.  
  
She wasn't actually reading, focusing her attention on 'N' even if she wasn't communicating with her. _"What no answer? Aww, I feel rejected."_ Celia scoffed quietly, turning another page in the file, _"What's wrong, CeCe? Afraid the police will send you to Arkham if they catch you talking to yourself."_ Celia took in a deep breath. _"You know you have to be a murderer to go to Arkham, right? Oh, wait…"_ Celia shut the file and threw it down into the box before turning and strolling past 'N', heading towards the bathroom, ignoring 'N's laughing face.  
  
She opened the door, and once checking it was absolutely empty, headed towards the sink, removing her glasses and turning the tap on before splashing cold water on her face. "What do you want?" She asked, turning to talk to 'N' but she wasn't there. She turned back to see her slightly blurry reflection in the bathroom mirror smile at her before chuckling darkly.  
  
 _"I want control."_ 'N' drawled and Celia glared.  
  
"Why? To wreak havoc? To end lives?" Her reflection smiled darkly.  
  
_"To have fun."_ She clarified, and Celia scoffed. 'N' tilted her head. _"Why do you deny me? I'm you."_ Celia glared harder.  
  
"No, you are not, and you never will be. I will never give you control." 'N's smile disappeared and became a frown. Celia glared back, and it wasn't until the sound of the bathroom door opening reached her ears did she look away.  
  
"Celia?" It was Leah's voice. Celia looked back at the mirror to see her reflection had returned to normal. She let out a sigh, grabbing her glasses and turning away from the mirror then leaned against the sink as Leah rounded the corner. Her expression was one of worry, sympathy and understanding. "N?" She inquired, and Celia nodded.  
  
"She's acting out." Leah stopped in front of her and nodded. Leah had known about 'N' for a while now and was the only person Celia could talk to about her split personality. Anyone else would just throw her into a mental asylum. Which was probably where she belong if she was honest with herself. Which she wasn't.  
  
"Are you all good?" Leah inquired, and Celia nodded her head.  
  
"Yeah, it's probably nothing." Celia waved her off and, while hesitant, Leah nodded her head again in understanding. Their discussions of 'N' never really delved very deep since 'N' was always listening but Celia was content with Leah just knowing she existed and not judging her for it. Leah gestured her head towards the door.  
  
"Come on, we have a case to crack. A little detective work will help keep your mind off her." Celia smiled and nodded, putting her glasses back on before following her to the door when she was sure her appearance was satisfactory. She wandered back to her working area with Leah in toe. Leah took a seat at the desk she was using and turned to look at the giant, two-sided whiteboard Celia was using to take down notes. "So what do we know so far?"  
  
Celia stood in front of the whiteboard, eyes scanning over the information pinned up all over it as her mind piece together the known facts. "A serial killer the media has come to call Burn-blade for his use of red, hot blades during his murders has been terrorising Downtown Gotham for the past few months. We know he is a male and most likely in his thirties. He has taken a total of 8 victims over the past 12 weeks. He kills twice every 3 weeks on the same day in two completely different locations that have no connection to each other. His victimology is also unconnected as his victims don't resemble each other, odd for a serial killer."  
  
"How is it odd?" A voice interrupted, and Celia turned to see Detective Bullock standing there, a file in his hands. Leah sighed and stood up. Celia smiled briefly at the detective before looking back at the board, answering his question.  
  
"Well, typically serial killers kill to live out a fantasy, with the person their killing being an integral part of that fantasy. The fantasy can't really exist without them. So serial killers kill people that hold up to that fantasy. For a serial killer to have undetermined victimology is extremely rare and suggest the motive isn't his own desire to fill out a fantasy or the victim's appearance isn't a factor in that fantasy." She turned back to see Detective Bullock nodding his head in understanding.  
  
"Sounds complicated." Celia smiled, and Leah chuckled.  
  
"Was there something you needed, Detective Bullock?" Leah asked, and the detective nodded.  
  
"Yeah, just got the results of what smashed in Cooper Tran's face and you were right. It was a large, heavy and round object. Over 3,000 pounds of force was released onto his face, skull smashed." He handed Leah the file, and Celia nodded in understanding.  
  
"And he was dead beforehand?" Leah asked, and Detective Bullock nodded his head.  
  
"Dr Thompkins determined he was dead for five minutes before his face got smashed." Leah nodded her head in understanding.  
  
"That's a brutal way to make sure he wouldn't be identified." She muttered, and Detective Bullock let out a laugh.  
  
"Yeah, didn't matter anyway because your friend here figured out who he was in less than a minute." Celia shook her head, cheeks slightly red at the compliment.  
  
"I simply retraced Mr Tran's steps before he was killed. No big deal." Detective Bullock scoffed.  
  
"Yeah, I'd like to see any of these punks try and do that. Hey, did you follow up on that request I made?" He asked, and Celia nodded.  
  
"Yes, I did." She moved away from the whiteboard towards a box of case files. Leah gave Detective Bullock a look.  
  
"I asked her to check out if there were any other cases like Mr Tran's, thought she'd do it better than our current record keeper, who's an idiot." Leah nodded her head in understanding.  
  
"Good idea." Celia coughed gaining their attention. She smiled at them, handing them a couple files.  
  
"These files match the same M.O of Mr Tran's killer," She turned and placed her hand on top of the case file box, "So do theses." Leah and Detective Bullock both blinked.  
  
"That's a lot of case files." Celia nodded her head at Leah's statement.  
  
"Yeah, I believe Mr Tran's death was a hit and not a threat on Mayor Cobblepot's life. Killed by an assassin. Why? I have no idea. That's your job to figure out." Detective Bullock nodded in satisfaction and turned to Leah.  
  
"Guess we should go figure out why the man was killed." Leah nodded her head in agreement.  
  
"Yeah, we'll go talk to Mr Tran's family and investigate these other cases," She looked at Celia, "You okay to continue the Burn-blade case on our own for now?" Celia smiled at the detectives.  
  
"Yes, of course. Go, be a detective!" Leah smiled and muttered a see ya before making her way down the stairs, Detective Bullock in toe. Celia turned back to the whiteboard, flipping it over to see the giant map of Gotham she had attached to the board. Several glowing pins were scattered throughout the city, showing the locations of the murders. They weren't in any kind of traceable pattern.  
  
Celia sighed. "Who are you, Burn-blade? Show me your secrets." She said towards the board before stepping away and picking up the file on the latest victim. She went over the information she'd already read over several times already, just to make sure she wasn't missing anything. Because she was missing something.  
  
"If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you haven't got me. What am I?" A male voice said, and Celia looked up from the file to see the man from before - Edward Nygma - standing a few metres away from her, a curious glint in his eyes. "Hi." He smiled, and Celia found herself smiling back.  
  
"Hi." She said back, and Mr Nygma took a few steps forward, so he was standing on the other side of her working desk.  
  
"Are you Dr Celia Neita?" He asked, and Celia nodded her head. "So you're the forensic scientist working on the murder of Cooper Tran?" Celia nodded her head again. "I heard you figured out his identity in a matter of minutes, despite the fact his face had been badly damaged." Celia laughed slightly. Badly damaged was an understatement.  
  
"Like I told Detective Bullock and Detective Rosado, I simply retraced his steps." Mr Nygma nodded, clearly not seeing it that way.  
  
"I also hear you're not from Gotham." He continued.  
  
"No, I'm from Antagan." Mr Nygma's curious glint intensified.  
  
"Then what are you doing here? In Gotham?" He asked.  
  
"I, along with Detective Rosado, were asked to consult on a case that has similar elements to a case we solved a few months prior," Mr Nygma nodded, and Celia looked down at the file in her hand, "Though I'm not sure how much help we'll be." She muttered quietly.  
  
"Why is that?" Mr Nygma asked, and Celia looked up at the mysterious man. His eyes still held that curious gleam, the dangerous look from when he'd been standing off against the police earlier not present. She'd heard about Edward Nygma's fall from grace over the past few days she'd been working with the GCPD. Knew the man went a little crazy after killing a cop and was sent to Arkham Asylum after he'd killed his girlfriend. She didn't know every detail and doubted the facts she'd received from the cops here were completely factual. She assumed they were missing or leaving out some details, like why he'd killed a cop.  
  
Even if they weren't, Celia couldn't bring herself to hate or fear the man. His story was something she could relate to all too well. It was also another good reason why she couldn't allow 'N' to be discovered. If they'd sent Mr Nygma to Arkham Asylum for killing his girlfriend, they'd definitely send her to Arkham. It was an Asylum for the insane after all. Bringing her attention back to Mr Nygma, she didn't think the man would do anything to try and hurt her. He'd most likely be shot dead before he could try.  
  
Celia smiled. "I'm not sure I should tell you, considering you're no longer apart of the police force." Mr Nygma chuckled and looked down at his feet. He mellowed over his thoughts for a few seconds, coming up with a good reason for her to tell him. She could tell from his gaze that he genuinely wanted to know what she was thinking. It was a strange, yet nice feeling. He looked back up at her, eyes determined.  
  
"Think of me as a fresh perspective. I could provide helpful insight." Celia hummed. She shouldn't tell him about the case. Not because he was a convicted murderer but because he was the mayor's chief of staff. Had connection with the media. Though he didn't seem like the type to hear and tell. She found herself telling him regardless of all that.  
  
"The mayor of Antagan, as well as the almost everyone in here, believe it's a copycat killer," Celia stated, and Mr Nygma titled his head slightly.  
  
"And you don't?" Celia shook her head, looking back down at the file in her hands.  
  
"There are just too many differences, too many irregularities. The killing method may be similar, but everything else is too different. This killer found inspiration from the Antagan case in his killing method, and that's it." Celia sighed and looked towards her map of the victim's deaths.  
  
"So, what are you going to do?" Mr Nygma asked, and Celia looked back down at the file in her hand that was currently open to the latest victim profile.  
  
"I need to figure out victimology how he chooses his victims. Someone, as controlled as the Burn-blade killer, is not killing randomly." Mr Nygma nodded.  
  
"What about Cooper Tran's killer?" Celia looked him "Got any idea on who that could be?" Celia smiled.  
  
"Yes, I do," she walked past Mr Nygma, heading towards a box of files sitting on top of a table. She placed her hand on top of it and looked at the handsome man, "This box contains cases similar to Cooper Tran's, same M.O of the killer. Detective Bullock and Detective Rosado are currently doing more investigation, but it seems that Cooper Tran's death was a hit from an assassin and not a targeted attack at your new mayor." Celia watched relief wash over Mr Nygma's face at her words. "I don't know why he was targeted, but know Mayor Cobblepot is not in danger of being electrocuted, at least not from Cooper Tran's killer."  
  
"Well, that's one threat down at least." Mr Nygma muttered, readjusting his glasses. "Of course there is still the threat of the Red Hood Gang," He paused and looked at her curiously, "Are you on that case?"  
  
"No. Captain was going to put me on it, but I've got the Burn-blade case to solve." Mr Nygma's curious gaze became more intense.  
  
"Strange for a stranger to be put on such high profile cases so quickly." Celia smiled at the man.  
  
"Guess, I must have impressed him." Mr Nygma hummed at her statement and watched her, head titled like she was a strange new being. Celia looked away and back at the board when their staring contest was interrupted by Mr Nygma's phone ringing. She heard him answer it.  
  
"What?" Celia's eyes traced over the locations of the murders, looking for connections. Two of the murders happened on opposite sides of the city, and two had occurred in houses right next to each. "I see," All four of them had been on separate days. It was clear that the pattern the killer was using was something he'd come up with on his own. Celia just needed to find out what it was. "Of course, I'll be right there." She needed to get into his mind.  
  
She heard Mr Nygma hang up his phone but paid him no mind. It was clear that the killer was not deranged, at least not in a mentally deterring way. He had control in his life, so much so that he was able to stick to a vigorous and exact killing schedule. Most serial killers begin to deteriorate the more they kill, craving that feeling of pleasure killing brings them. But not Burn-Blade. If anything, he becomes more controlled with each kill. Each crime scene becoming more perfect, less evidence. Like an obsession.  
  
"Dr Neita!?" A loud voice broke through her thoughts and Celia blinked. She turned to see Mr Nygma looking at her strangely, with worry and confusion. She felt warmth rush to her cheeks. She'd got caught up in her thoughts again.  
  
"Mr Nygma, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ignore you," She paused, lowering her head in shame, "I'm told I tend to enter my own world when thinking about a case." Mr Nygma stared at her for a few more seconds before smiling.  
  
"It's alright, I know the feeling." Celia nodded, not really listening, her thoughts already drifting back to the case. Mr Nygma seemed to notice because he didn't try to extend their conversation any longer. "Well, I'll leave you to it."  
  
Celia muttered an absent-minded goodbye to the strange man, turning back to the whiteboard. But then something hit her. "Oh, Mr Nygma!" She turned to see the man stop on the top step, turning back to look at her, gaze curious. "The answer is secrets." She winked and watched confusion turned into recognition and satisfaction on the man's face. Mr Nygma nodded to her in goodbye, and she watched him descend down the rest of the stairs before turning back towards her whiteboard.  
  
The Burn-blade killer had an obsession with control. Now that Celia had thought of it, she saw the evidence for it everywhere. The Burn-blade killer was Obsessive-Compulsive, so much so that his obsession with control over rid his compulsion to kill. He was deterring, but his delusion didn't allow him to act on it. It was tragic and fascinating.  
  
Celia felt a big smile climb onto her face. Oh yes, this case had become very interesting. Much better than some copycat. An OCD killer whose obsession counteracted his compulsion but also enabled it. It was unheard of. Now she just needed to figure out what obsessions and compulsion he suffered from, other than control and killing.  
  
_"And you think I'm the crazy one."_ A familiar voice sounded in her head and broke her thought process. She turned to see 'N' had come back and was leaning against the table, _"That smile makes you look nuts,"_ Celia huffed but didn't respond. She may be alone, but there was no telling who was watching her _"Though, I guess it is fitting when you think about it."_ 'N' smiled and Celia rolled her eyes and walked towards the desk, opening one of the victims files.  
  
"I'd really rather not." She muttered quietly under her breath, keeping her head ducked, so it looked like she was muttering about the case to any wandering eyes. "What are you doing here? I'd thought we'd had our fight for the day." She continued quietly and 'N' scoffed.  
  
_"I have no quota on how many times I can bother you,"_ 'N' sneered but then smiled. _"But I couldn't help myself. That talk with Edward Nygma intrigued me,"_ Celia paused her sorting of the victim files _"Your lack of fear for the man to be exact,"_ Celia closed her eyes, wiling 'N' to leave but like always, her darker self didn't disappear, instead, she leaned in close. _"Only psychopaths don't fear psychopaths."_ Celia looked up at 'N', glaring.  
  
"I'm not-" Celia started quite loudly but stopped herself. No, she wouldn't let 'N' rile her up. Not now, not here. She closed her eyes and allowed her anger to dissipate. She then opened them, glancing quickly at 'N' before going back to sorting the victim files. 'N' scoffed.  
  
_"Ignoring me won't make me leave."_ She stated, but Celia kept working.  
  
"Then it's a good thing I'm used to people hovering." 'N' only chuckled darkly before leaning in once again.  
  
_"I will break you."_ Then she was gone, and Celia was alone once again. She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes, feeling tiredness wash over her.  
  
"That's what I'm afraid of." She whispered before shaking her head and turning back to the Burn-blade case. She couldn't let herself get side-tracked. She had a killer to catch.

**~~~**

The next day, Celia was making her way down the stairs, reading a file as she went over her recent findings, an excited smile on her face. She'd managed to crack the Burn-blade Killer's system of choosing victims and wanted to tell Leah right away. She'd even found a way to predict his possible next victim.  
  
She made her way to where she'd seen Leah and Detective Bullock having a conversation, dodging police officers even though she wasn't looking. She'd gotten quite good at navigating her way through a crowd while not really paying attention in her years spent working for the police. It was an excellent skill to have as a forensic scientist. She climbed up some stairs, closing in on Leah and Detective Bullock.  
  
"Leah! Guess what? I've managed to-" She looked up and cut herself off when she saw that Leah and Detective Bullock as well as Captain Barnes and another man who looked like he belonged on the force but clearly wasn't were all giving her the same look. A look she often got given when she interrupted a conversation. Her cheeks warmed, "Oh, did I interrupt your conversation?" She asked sheepishly, and Leah smiled while shaking her head.  
  
The man blinked a few times before putting on a smile and holding out his hand towards "Not at all. I'm Jim Gordon." Celia glanced down at his hand and took it.  
  
"Celia Neita." She offered the man in return, and his smile widened as she dropped his hand.  
  
"Ah, the woman who helped figure out Cooper Tran's identify when he didn't have a head." Celia laughed slightly, looking down at her feet. His head had still, technically, been attached.  
  
"Does the whole GCPD know about that?" She asked, feeling embarrassed. She didn't like having her intelligence acknowledge, made her feel out of place. Well more out of place than she usually felt.  
  
"Pretty much. It was an impressive feat." Detective Bullock stated, and Celia nodded her head, still not raising her head.  
  
"I merely retr-" She was cut off by Detective Bullock.  
  
"Retraced his steps, yeah, we know." Celia couldn't bring herself to answer, so she just nodded instead. This was not how she'd thought this conversation would start. She heard Captain Barnes sigh and looked up. He looked much healthier than when she'd first met him.  
  
"Was there something you needed, Dr Neita?" Celia nodded her head and held out the file she was holding towards the man.  
  
"I've figured out how The Burn-blade Killer is choosing his victims." Captain Barnes frowned, taking the file. Detective Bullock scoffed.  
  
"Wait, I thought his victims were random?" Celia smiled at the man and shook her head.  
  
"No, it only seems that way, but the victims are far from random." Detective Bullock nodded, but he still seemed sceptical. Leah was just smiling at her.  
  
"Okay, so how does he choose his victims?" Mr Gordon asked, and Celia smiled.  
  
"It's better to show you," Celia than turned on her heel and made her way towards her whiteboard, which she'd had brought down to the bottom floor once she'd figured out The Burn-blade Killer's victimology pattern. She came to stand in front of the whiteboard and turned to see everyone had followed her. She smiled "The Burn-blade Killer uses a simple number system to choose his victims." She watched as Detective Bullock immediately became confused.  
  
"What?" Celia smiled at the aging detective.  
  
"The Burn-blade created his own number pattern to choose his victims. Once I'd figured it out, I was able to see that he did, in fact, have a victimology type, though it's still not straightforward." Detective Bullock frowned deeper.  
  
"So you crack the Burn-Blade Killer's number pattern, and you can now see what all the victims had in common?" Mr Gordon asked, and Celia nodded.  
  
"What's the number pattern?" Leah asked, helping move Celia's explanation along. Celia smiled joyfully.  
  
"It's really quite brilliant. He suffers from OCD and has the compulsion of number counting. He specifically has an obsession with timesing odd numbers together and even numbers together. So, I took the numbers from the address of his first murder, which contained two odd numbers and two even numbers and times the odd together then the even together, then I added the answers together. I then did the same with the numbers from the address of his second murder, which had occurred the same day as his first. They were the same, two odd and two even. I then took the two numbers I'd calculated and turned them into longitude and latitude, creating a coordinate." Celia took a breath and flipped the whiteboard around to reveal her newly, amended map.  
  
"I did the same with the other 6 murder locations, resulting in four coordinates. I then applied those coordinates to a map of Gotham, specifically Downtown, creating a new pattern." She gestured to the map which had four, flashing pins in it. "He is creating a star!" Celia laughed "God! I love a good puzzle!" Celia smiled at her audience only to realise several police officers had stopped their work and had started listening to her explanation. She felt her cheeks begin to warm.  
  
"I stand corrected. That is the most impressive thing I've ever seen." Detective Bullock stated, and Celia blushed harder.  
  
"You figured all this out because you realised the killer was OCD?" Mr Gordon asked, sounding sceptical and Celia nodded.  
  
"Our most revealing actions often stem from mental illness." She clarified. Mr Gordon nodded.  
  
"Detective Bullock is right though," Celia looked at Captain Barnes, "That was very impressive."  
  
Celia shrugged. She was proud of the fact she'd managed to figure it out within a day, though she hadn't slept at all last night.  
  
"Yeah, C has a gift, that for sure," Leah stated and Celia winked at her. "Though, you said he was creating a star, right?" Celia blinked but nodded her head. "Does it look inverted to you?" Leah asked, and Celia looked at the whiteboard.  
  
"Yeah, I assume he is creating an inverted pentagram. Why? I can't say. The pentagram may be related to another delusion he has. Only he would know." Celia clarified, and Leah nodded.  
  
"Does this map allow you to know his next victims?" Captain Barnes asked, and Celia nodded her head.  
  
"Yeah. It allowed me to know the numbers of his next coordinate. Once I knew them, I went over every possible address that could create those coordinates in my head. Took me an hour but I came up with 6 different possible locations he could hit when his next attack comes due in a few days. It's in the file I gave you." Captain Barnes looked down at the file in his hands.  
  
"You should come work at the GCPD permanently." He declared Celia laughed and smiled at the man  
  
"Tempting, I'll be sure to give it a think over." Captain Barnes nodded his head at her before turning around and walking away.  
  
_"You should. Gotham is much more interesting than Antagan"_ 'N's voice sounded, and Celia stiffened, but she didn't try to seek out 'N'. There were too many people watching.  
  
_"So many more opportunities for something to go wrong."_ 'N' laughed and Celia took in a deep breath. She knew 'N' was up to something and she wanted to leave Gotham before something did happen. Now that she helped out massively on the Burn-blade case, it should only be a few more days. Only a few more days…


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A nightly stroll goes horribly wrong when Celia kills a man who was trying to rape her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning!  
> This chapter contains attempted rape. If you don't wish to read it, skip to the end.
> 
> Feel free to point out any mistakes

Celia was sitting on the couch, attention entirely on a case file Captain Barnes had wanted her opinion when a smell hit her nose, breaking her out of her trace. Smoke. She sniffed the air, the smell of smoke coming stronger with every sniff. Why was there, smoke in her hotel room? Celia put the case file down and turned to look at the kitchen, seeing smoke coming out of the oven.  
  
Her eyes widened in realisation. Her cookies! She sprung up from the couch, jumping over it and darted towards the kitchen, quickly turning off the oven. She grabbed a tea towel, opened the oven and waved away the smoke coming out of it, covering her mouth with her armpit. She'd been so focused on the case file that she'd completely forgotten about the cookies she was making.  
  
Once all the smoke had dissipated, and her glasses had defogged, Celia coughed once before using the tea towel to get out the burned cookies. She placed the tray on top of the oven and sighed. She'd made the cookies as a goodbye gift for the police department. She and Leah were set to return to Antagan tomorrow. She examined the black piles of overcooked cookie dough. Yeah, they were utterly uneatable now.  
  
A laughing voice entered the room, and Celia closed her eyes, turning around to see 'N' in the doorway, laughing maniacally. Celia rolled her eyes. "Seriously?" She asked, and 'N's laughter died down, and Celia shook her head.  
  
_"I can't believe you made cookies for those idiots."_ Celia huffed. 'N' was never a friend to Celia. Only ever an enemy.  
  
"Oh, shut up." She growled and 'N' chuckled.  
  
_"You truly are pathetic."_ 'N' taunted and Celia glared.  
  
"There is nothing wrong with showing kindness." 'N' laughed.  
  
_"Only weak fools believe that."_ Celia looked away, not justifying her darker self with an answer. Because that what' N' was. She represented everything Celia rejected about herself. Traits she knew she possessed but wished she didn't. Urges and desires, she sometimes felt that no normal, sane person would have.  
  
Celia was not completely sane, she knew that. She hallucinated a darker version of herself that could walk and speak, even had her own very distinctive and unpredictable personality that was completely separate from Celia's. She'd met known murders but hadn't experienced any fear in their presence. Her nightmares weren't haunted by the horrors her day job sometimes forced her to see. So, no Celia was not 100% sane. But she wasn't crazy.  
  
Not like 'N'. 'N' was crazy. 'N' represented everything Celia could one day become if she wasn't careful. She was slightly deranged, sometimes showing up at horrific crime scenes to laugh at the victim's misfortune. To her, fun was committing a crime, regardless of what that crime was. She could rob a bank or kill a person, and it would all be fun, a game, to her. She was manipulative, often whispering horrible things in Celia's ear just to get a rise out of her. She wanted to break Celia so she could be in control. Complete control.  
  
'N' had only ever been in control of Celia's actions a few times, each time ended in someone getting horribly hurt. But Celia had always gotten control back very quickly. Still, it was 'N's ultimate goal to be in control. To get rid of Celia and be free. Free to do whatever she wanted. That was something Celia could never let happen.  
  
Sighing, Celia put the tea towel down and wiped her hands down the front of her pants before moving past 'N' and out of the kitchen. She stopped and glanced down at the file on the coffee table in front of the couch but shook her head. No, she didn't need work right now. She needed air. So instead of sitting down, she headed towards the coat hanger by the door.  
  
 _"Where are you going?"_ 'N' asked but Celia didn't stop.  
  
"You live in my mind. You know exactly where I'm going." She finished putting her coat on and made to open the front door when her eyes caught sight of her gun. She looked at it for a few seconds before sighing and going to pick it up. She was going for a nightly stroll in Gotham after all. Besides, Leah would yell at her if she didn't take it. She felt 'N' watching her the entire time.  
  
She opened the front door and gently locked it behind her before going to the door opposite hers. Leah had gotten the hotel room across from her when they'd booked in. It wasn't the flashiest hotel in the world, they were on a budget after all, but the rooms were nice, and it wasn't far from the police station—a twenty-minute walk away.  
  
She knocked on Leah's doorway and listened as her friend stopped what she was doing and headed towards the door. A second later, the door opened, and Celia saw her friend's smiling face, "C, What's up?" Celia offered Leah a small smile.  
  
"I was just going out for some fresh air and thought I'd let you know in case you needed me." Leah frowned and looked at her with concern.  
  
"Now? It's almost 11pm, is everything okay?" Celia nodded weakly at her friend.  
  
"Yeah, my minds just a little fried after looking at cases all week. I could do with something else to look at." Leah nodded, though it looked like she didn't quite believe Celia. She didn't push it, though.  
  
"Okay. Want me to go with you?" Celia shook her head. While she did enjoy Leah's company, she needed to be alone. Or at least as alone as she could get with a second personality living in her brain.  
  
"Thanks but I'll be fine. I've got my gun after all." She pulled back her coat to show Leah her gun resting in its holster around her hip. The sight of it made Leah relax slightly.  
  
"Alright," She agreed half-heartily, "But don't be too long. This isn't Antagan." Celia chuckled slightly and nodded. She was well aware of that. After bidding Leah goodbye, she made her way to the elevator, pressing the down button. She tried to go out for fresh air a few days ago on the roof only to find a young couple going at it quite vigorously. She'd immediately gone back to her hotel room. Leah had laughed her head off when she told her about it the next morning. The memory still made her cheeks go a little red.  
  
The elevator dinged and Celia got on, pressing the button for the lobby. There was no one else in the elevator which didn't surprise her. It was also 11pm. All the club doers weren't due back for another few hours. It didn't matter which city it was, all youths rebelled in the same way, with alcohol, drugs and maybe a bit of vandalism.  
  
The elevator dinged once again, signifying it had reached the lobby. The doors opened and Celia stepped into a vacant lobby, the only other people around being the receptionist and the security guard at the front door. The hotel was a check-in-at-all-hours hotel, meaning the receptionist and security guard were necessary.  
  
Celia nodded to both of them as she made her way towards the entrance. Only the security guard nodded back. Once stepping out into the fresh, night air, Celia took in a deep breath and felt her mind begin to clear. She released it and sighed. She had needed the fresh air. Taking a quick glance around to see the street was pretty much empty, with only several cars passing by every now and then, Celia decided to head towards the park close to her hotel. It was only a block away.  
  
She started on her walk, hands in her pocket, enjoying the way the wind felt passing through her hair. She looked up at all the tall buildings surrounding her, plenty of lights on to help guide her way. Gotham, like Antagan, was a city that never went quiet. Though, unlike Antagan, which had special devices set up around the city to counteract the light pollution, allowing one to see the beauty of the starry night sky, Gotham didn't. Their night sky was hiding behind a thick layer of light pollution. It was really, quite sad.  
  
A car flew past, quickly lighting up Celia's surrounding better than the street lights could. But the extra light was swiftly gone, and the lighting returned to normal. Celia hugged her coat closer to herself as an unusually cold breeze blew past her. The coldness of Gotham city was also quite sad. _"You shouldn't stay out here too long,"_ 'N' voice sounded, and Celia stopped walking, turning to see 'N' standing behind her, an odd expression on her face.  
  
Celia frowned, "Why? I'm just walking." 'N' didn't respond right away, that odd expression on her face. Then it was gone, and 'N' was smiling maniacally at her.  
  
_"Stay out too long, and the bad men will get ya!"_ She stated, then started laughing maniacally. Celia's frowned deepened. Her subconscious was genuinely crazy. It's had horrible mood swings. It concerned her greatly.  
  
"Wha-" Celia started, but the sound of a bin lid dropping interrupted her. Celia turned her head to see she'd stopped walking in front of an alley. An alleyway that didn't have any lights on inside it. Celia glanced back at 'N' to see she'd disappeared. Celia suddenly felt the urge to scream. Instead, Celia put on a brave face and completely faced the alley. "Hello?" She called out, but no one answered.  
  
Celia squinted, trying to see if anything was moving in the darkness of the alley. Nothing moved for a minute. Celia took in a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. It was probably just a rat or a stray cat. Celia moved her hand to her gun anyway. A loud bang from behind her caused her to swing around. She quickly scanned the other side of the road, finding the culprit.  
  
It was a homeless man kicking around bin lids, most likely looking for something to eat. Celia let out a sigh. Her heart was racing pretty quickly now. This city was making her more paranoid than usual. Just as Celia was going to start walking again, turning around to head back to the hotel, a hand reached out and grabbed her by the shoulder, pulling her backwards.  
  
Celia instinctively went to scream, but a gloved hand quickly covered her mouth, silencing her, and pulled her into the darkness of the alley, obscuring her from anyone's view. She was slammed up against the wall, one hand pinned above her head, the other trapped behind her back, and pain exploded up her back and hand, causing her to cry out. Or at least tried to. The hand covering her mouth muffled her cry.  
  
"Now, now gorgeous, no screaming. We wouldn't want someone to hear now, would we?" A deep and sickening voice sounded in Celia's ear, and her eyes widened, a shiver going down her back at the feel of her assailant's breath against her neck. The darkness of the valley hid his face from her eyes. Celia's heartbeat increased tenfold.  
  
Suddenly, a light at the entrance of the alleyway began to flicker before turning on entirely. It cast just enough light for Celia to see her attacker's face. He was a handsome man with high cheekbones, tan skin and slicked black hair. He was the kind of man who could charm a woman with his looks, not needing to hold them against their will. Though, charming them probably took away the reason he did this. He was taller than her and well-built, meaning Celia probably couldn't break out of his grasp. She tried, anyway.  
  
The man only laughed and shoved his knee between her thighs, pressing up against her completely. Celia was wholly terrified, her heart racing faster than it ever had and her eyes had begun to water. A sick smile crept onto her assailant's face. "That look on your face makes you even more beautiful." He pressed even closer, grip tightening on her wrist. It would no doubt bruise.  
  
_"Are you just going to let him have this way? Stop him. Hurt him. No, kill him!"_ A voice stated within in the back of Celia's mind. It sounded much like her own, but she didn't know who it was coming from. She was too terrified to try and even think clearly. But the hurting bit sounded like a good idea. So Celia raised her boot and stomped on one of her assailant's feet as hard as she could, glad her boot had a heel.  
  
The man cursed, removing his hand from Celia's mouth and putting just enough space between them that Celia could remove the hand squashed behind her back. The man looked at Celia with a sudden and intense fury, and Celia froze, fear spreading through her chest, and the man raised his hand, striking it against her cheek. Pain spread across her cheek, and Celia cried out. A few seconds later, warm liquid began sliding down her face. Her glasses remained on her face, though.  
  
She looked at the man in shock and terror only for him to punch her in the stomach. She grunted and curled in on herself, tears leaking from her eyes. Then there was a hand wrapped around her throat, forcing her to look up at her attacker. His eyes showed pure raged. It was a look she often saw in criminals who'd just been caught. "You bitch! I like these shoes." His gripped tightened around her throat, and Celia felt her airway begin to close up. Her neck was definitely going to bruise as well. "Now you're gonna be an obedient little slut and stand still!" He yelled in her face.  
  
The hand tightened a bit more, completely closing Celia's airway and she gasped. Then it was gone from Celia's throat, and she took in a deep breath, coughing slightly. Suddenly the man was pressed up against her, that sick smile back. Celia raised her hand to try and push him away, and it brushed against her gun, still hidden from the man's view by her coat and tucked away in its holster. She froze.  
  
_"Well, you tried."_ That voice in her mind sounded again, and this time Celia was able to put a name to it. 'N'. Celia's eyes widened even further. _"Now, it's my turn."_ And suddenly, Celia was no longer in control of her movements.  
  
In a quick movement, Celia could barely register, her hand had removed the gun from the holster and had it placed into the man's stomach. Right where the aorta was located. She felt control come back to her hand. If she pulled the trigger, she would kill the man. The bullet would tear the aorta opened, and he would bleed out in under 2 minutes. She wouldn't be able to save him. No one would be able to save him. The sound of the city around her ceased as time slowed down, a look of panic flashing in the man's eyes. A look that pleaded for his life. She shouldn't pull the trigger.  
  
But at that moment, in that split second of deciding whether she should shoot this man, if she would spare his life, a thrilling rush past through her, a pleasurable rush she'd never felt before, and Celia suddenly didn't care for this man's life anymore. She pulled the trigger, and the sound of a gunshot echoed throughout the alleyway. She felt the bullet leaving the gun and entering her assailant's stomach. Felt the shift in power immediately.  
  
The man choked on his breath and stumbled backwards, freeing her of his grip and close proximity. His hand went to his stomach. To the gunshot wound. Celia watched as the man looked at her in shock and…fear. He opened his mouth to say something, but only air came out. Then his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he was falling backwards. He landed on the ground with a thud. Celia could only watch in shock.  
  
Then sound came flooding back in and time returned to normal. "Oh, god." Celia heard herself whisper. She glanced down at the gun in her hand, blood sliding down from the muzzle, over the silver surface and over her fingers wrapped around the trigger. How it got on the gun, she couldn't say. It was most likely from the gunshot wound. "Oh, god." She heard herself say again, only slightly louder.  
  
Her eyes drifted to the figure of her assailant lying on the ground, breaths quick as he bled out. Celia slowly walked around the man, shaking slightly as she watched the unconscious man slowly die. "Oh, god." She said again. Then she was laughing. It wasn't her usual laugh. No, this one was manic, a lot like 'N's but also different somehow. She didn't know why she was laughing since none of what happened was funny. But she was. Celia chalked it up to shock.  
  
But then the shock of what had happened began to wear off, and the gravity of what she'd done started to set in. Her laughing died down. "Oh, god." She said again, though it was pained. She'd just shot a man. She'd put a gun to his stomach, to his aorta and willingly pulled the trigger, even though it would kill him. Even when the look of defeat had passed through his eyes. "Oh, god." She said again, though it sounded more like a sob.  
  
She darted for the man's side, placing the gun on the ground as she kneeled before him. Her eyes went to the wound in his stomach, blood flowing out of it like a waterfall. Her hands automatically went over the wound, pressing down as she tried to slow down the bleeding, the warm liquid feeling strange on her hands. How long ago had she shot him?  
  
_"Does it really matter?"_ Her voice sounded, and she looked up to see 'N' standing there on the other side of the injured man, smirking. _"You put the bullet through his aorta. Nothing you do will save him."_ Celia blinked as panic washed through her. She couldn't save him? And what did 'N' mean? She couldn't have shot this man. 'N' had to have taken her over.  
  
"You shot this man!" Celia emphasised and 'N' laughed. It was a manic laugh but different from the one Celia had made.  
  
_"No, I merely forced you to pull out the gun. You pulled the trigger all by yourself,"_ 'N' said, sounding very pleased with herself. Celia looked away from 'N', directing her gaze towards the ground. She'd pulled the trigger? _"You killed this man."_ 'N' continued. No, it wasn't right. She wouldn't believe it.  
  
Celia shook her head. "No, I didn't!" 'N' scoffed and suddenly she was standing behind Celia.  
  
_"Ah, yes, you did."_ She countered, sounding as if this was all some big game. Celia shook her head harder, not wanting to hear it.  
  
"No, you're lying!" She shouted, and 'N' laughed again.  
  
_"Please. I am you! Would I lie to myself?"_ 'N' asked and Celia glared at her through tear-soaked eyes.  
  
"Yes." She said hard, with poison and conviction. Because Celia would and did lie to herself. 'N' looked surprised for a second and seemed to think it over.  
  
_"Whatever, you're in denial,"_ Celia looked away from 'N', back at the injured man, not wanting to continue the conversation. She pressed her hands down harder on his gunshot wound, not realising the blood wasn't coming out as fast or that his chest had stopped rising and falling. 'N' chuckled darkly. _"Doesn't really matter if it was you or me because I know you felt the rush,"_ Celia stiffened, N's words loud and clear in her head. _"That thrilling rush of holding someone's life in your hand."_  
  
"Stop it." Celia said, not wanting 'N' to continue. She did, though.  
  
_"That rush of having the choice to end it,"_ Celia shook her head, trying to block out the words. To silence them. _"Knowing if you pull that trigger, it would. It would end his life."_ Celia gritted her teeth and quickly stood up, swinging around to face 'N'  
  
"I said, stop it!!" She yelled but 'N' wasn't there. Celia blinked and quickly glanced around. She heard a familiar chuckling from behind her and swung around to see 'N' standing on the other side of the injured man. Celia glanced down. Correction: dead man. She stared at the man's chest, praying it would rise. But it remained still. Celia closed her eyes.  
  
She'd officially killed a man.  
  
_"Congratulations, you have officially killed a man,"_ Celia ignored 'N', _"Wouldn't be the first time,"_ Celia clench her fist, continuing to ignore 'N'. _"So, what are you going to do about him?"_ Celia opened her eyes to see 'N' crouching down, inspecting the man's face. _"You can't leave him here. We'll get caught."_ Celica looked down at the dead man.  
  
What was she going to do? She couldn't just leave a corpse lying around for someone to find. God knows what they'd think or do about it. She could dispose of it, pretend nothing had happened. She was a forensic scientist, she knew how to dispose of a body probably. She'd have to discover the man's identity, come up with a reason he was no longer in anyone lives. She'd have to come up with an explanation as to why she'd fired her gun to Leah as well but she could probably–  
  
No! She won't run. She was not a coward. She committed an act of wrong and will face the punishment of that wrong, no matter what it may be. Celia turned away from the dead man and pulled her phone from her pocket, not caring about the blood on her hands. She heard 'N' scoff. _"Typical. Such a good girl."_ Celia scrolled down to Leah's name and pressed the call button. _"Don't worry Cece, I'm gonna change that."_ Celia closed her eyes as she heard Leah pick up.  
  
"Hey C, what's up?"  
  
~  
  
An hour later, Celia watched as her attacker's body was loaded onto a vehicle, ready to be taken back to the police station and examined by the medical officer to determine the cause of death. To Celia, there was no need. She already knew what had killed the man. As did every other police officer here. But it was procedure, so Celia didn't question it.  
  
She felt a hand touched her face and immediately flinched back, memories of a much rougher hand striking her face flashing before her eyes. "Ah, I'm sorry miss, I didn't mean to startle you." Celia opened her eyes to see a young male paramedic holding a cloth looking at her with concern. It was then she remembered where she was sitting, on the back step of an ambulance, a shock blanket wrapped around her.  
  
She offered the paramedic a weak smile "It's fine. I'm fine. You don't have to do anything." The paramedic looked sceptical but nodded his head, climbing back into the ambulance. He couldn't touch her if she didn't give him permission. She knew she was being ridiculous, and it was probably more logical to go to the hospital and get checked out. She had just been attacked by a criminal, after all. But the thought of someone touching and poking her sent shivers down her spine. She just couldn't. Not yet.  
  
"You shouldn't deny medical treatment." A soft voice said, and Celia smiled, looking up to see Leah walking towards her, an understanding look in her eyes. "Though I know there is no point in trying to convince you otherwise." She sat down next to Celia on the steps of the ambulance. "Just promise me, you'll let Dr Thompkins check you out tomorrow?" Celia turned her head to look at Leah, noting the concerned in her friend's eyes.  
  
She supposed Dr Thompkins was better than a random paramedic, and she would have had time to think it over by then. Celia nodded her head "Of course." Leah smiled and put her hand on Celia's knee. It was a small gesture of comfort but one welcomed by Celia. She turned back to look at the scene before them. The police officers on night duty were processing the scene, taking pictures, collecting evidence. It made Celia nervous. "What do you think is going to happen to me?" She felt more than saw Leah's look of confusion. "As punishment."  
  
Leah scoffed "Punishment?" Celia nodded her head.  
  
"I have just ki-," Celia hesitated, her voice breaking slightly. She took in a deep breath before continuing, "Ended a person's life. There has to be some punishment in store." Leah looked at her like she'd just told her the sky was made of gold and pigs were secretly the lords of the universe.  
  
"Celia, you shot a man in defence of your own life," Celia looked at Leah, frowning in confusion, "You have done nothing wrong", Leah emphasised with such convection that Celia wanted to believe her. She really did. Instead, she looked away.  
  
Whether she'd done it in self-defence or not, Celia had taken her attacker's life. And she didn't feel as if it was in self-defence. She could have easily threatened the man with the gun, forcing him to move away with the threat she'd use it. She hadn't needed to shoot him. Celia closed her eyes in grievance. She didn't have to take that man's life. But she did.  
  
She'd have to face the fact that everything would be different from now on. Especially 'N'. Now that her darker reflection had something she could hold over her head, not only will their conversations get worse but so will 'N'. Celia took in a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to will away the memory of that rush and the feelings it had brought…


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Celia faces the possibility of murder charges when it's learnt the man she killed was on Mayor Cobblepot's staff.

The next day at the station was quiet. Not because of a decrease in crime, in fact, it actually seemed like a bad day, or because Celia was asked to consult on the forensic evidence of a crime. In fact, she hadn't gone to the police station as a forensic scientist at all. It had been as a civilian. It was quiet because Celia was currently sitting in Captain Barnes office, waiting to hear back on the medical examiner's, on Dr Thompkins report, about the man she'd killed the night before.

Leah was in the seat next to her, impatiently tapping her foot on the ground as they waited for Dr Thompkins to come in with the medical report. Captain Barnes was sitting with his arms on his desk looking at Celia who had her gaze pointed directly at the floor. She'd seen Captain Barnes assign Detective Bullock the job of finding out her attacker's name earlier that morning.

"Have you had it looked at?" Captain Barnes' voice sounded, and Celia looked up at him, confusion clear across her face. Captain Barnes gestured at her throat. Celia blinked and instinctively raised her hand to her throat, flashes of her attacker's hand closing around it, cutting off her airway streaking across her eyes. Celia gulped, ignoring the soreness the action caused.

"Not yet, sir. I was gonna have Dr Thompkins look at it as well as the rest of my injuries," Celia paused and averted her eyes from the captain, "I wasn't feeling up to it last night." She heard the captain nod his head.

"I-" Celia turned back to look at the balding man at his voice. He looked like he was struggling to get the words he wanted to say out of his mouth. He opened his mouth to try again but got interrupted by a knock on the door. "Come in." He said instead. Dr Thompkins walked in a serious yet gentle expression on her face.

"Sorry I'm late." The Captain stood up and shook his head.

"Not at all. What did you find?" Dr Thompkins glanced at Celia before proceeding with her findings. 

"The victim was killed by a 40 S&W bullet from a Glock 22 handgun. The bullet when into his stomach, tearing open the aorta and causing him to bleed out. I also found that a few of his toes on his left foot had been broken," Captain Barnes looked at Celia in confusion. 

"I stomped on his foot as a way to make him s-" Celia cut herself off when her throat closed up. She felt stupid. It wasn't like the man had ended up doing anything to her, so she didn't understand why she found talking about what happened so hard. God, she been to crime scenes that would make even the most hard-core cops barf and had been fine, so what was wrong with her?

Captain Barnes only nodded though and looked back at Dr Thompkins "Anything else?" He asked, and an uncomfortable look crossed the woman's face.

"Yeah. I found traces of semen in the man's jeans around the zipper area, suggesting he was very turned on around the time of death." Celia closed her eyes. Meaning had Celia not done anything, the man would have most likely ended up raping her or even potentially killing her. The knowledge didn't really make her feel better. She heard Leah take in a deep breath, and so did Captain Barnes.

"Well, there you go", Leah said, and Celia opened her eyes to look at her. "The evidence we needed to know the guy was a douchebag." Celia tried to suppress her smile and failed horribly.

"Leah." She said, and her friend looked at her, shrugging her shoulders.

"What? You know it's true." Celia only shook her head, her smiling dimming.

"We'll still need more evidence to prove Dr Neita killed the man in self-defence." Captain Barnes stated, though he it didn't sound like he was happy with the idea. "Since there is no footage of the crime, we'll have to rely on Dr Neita's injuries." Celia stiffened, and Leah glared at the captain, but he held up his hand, "I don't like it either, but it's all we got. At least until Harvey figures out the man's identity," He turned to look at Dr Thompkins, "Would you mind giving her a once over and record her injuries?"

Dr Thompkins smiled warmly at Celia "Not at all." Celia looked at Leah, who nodded, before getting up and following Dr Thompkins out the room. She started making her way to the coroner's room, but Celia stopped her by grabbing her arm. The woman turned and looked at her, slightly confused. Celia blushed.

"If you don't mind, I'd rather you do it here in the open. Where there are, uh, more people." Dr Thompkins blinked, and Celia immediately felt the need to justify herself, "It's not that I don't trust you, I do. It's just that, ha, there are more people with, um, guns and stuff down here. Plus, Leah is just next store." Dr Thompkins smiled and nodded her head in understanding.

"Of course. Whatever is most comfortable for you, okay?" With that, Dr Thompkins lead her to an empty desk, after checking with the officer who owned it. Celia sat down on the swinging chair, legs crossed as if she was sitting on the floor, and watched as Dr Thompkins went to go get her medical items, returning a few minutes later. "We'll start with your neck." Celia nodded and titled her head up so Dr Thompkins could all of her neck. She gently placed her fingers against the bruised area, which was shaped in a handprint. "Does it hurt?" She asked, and Celia shook her head.

"Not really. Just when I try to swallow. He-He didn't hold it for very long. Just enough to send a message." One Celia had ignored. Dr Thompkins nodded.

"From the state of this bruise, I image the grip was quite hard." Celia nodded again.

"Yeah, he cut off my airway." Dr Thompkins nodded again. It was strange. With Captain Barnes, Celia had been very unwilling to talk about what happened, but with Dr Thompkins, the words were coming out like there was no dam to stop them. It was the same with Leah.

"It doesn't look like anything is wrong. You're breathing fine, talking normally. You don't sound croaky, and the soreness should go away with the bruising." Celia nodded and watched the woman take down some notes on her clipboard. "Now for your stomach."

They continued like that for the next few minutes, Dr Thompkins checking out one of Celia's injuries with Celia explaining how it had happened. Dr Thompkins declared that neither the cut on her cheek or forehead needed stitches meaning no scar. Celia already knew that, but it was still a relief to hear it from an actual doctor. Celia had PhDs, not an MD. Dr Thompkins instead put wound closure stripping over them before deciding to wrap the wrist her attacker had held in a bandage, seeing as it was sprained and bruised.

She was in the middle of tightening the bandage when Detective Bullock came running into the police station, Mr Gordon right behind him. He slowed to a speedy walk, quickly making his way up to the captain's offence and busting in, not even trying to knock. Celia watched him exchange a few words with the captain then both of them, plus Leah were exiting the office and making their way downstairs, the captain lagging behind because of his cane.

Leah made her way over to Celia just as Dr Thompkins clipped the bandage in place while the others headed towards the entrance. "How is she?" Leah asked the doctor, who smiled at her.

"She's fine. No lasting injuries which is good. The most concerning is her neck, but she talking and breathing fine so there shouldn't be any complications in the healing process." Leah nodded, taking it all in.

"And her stomach is okay?" Dr Thompkins nodded again.

"Yes. It's not tender, and there is very minimal bruising. She just needs to watch those cuts for infection." Leah nodded once again in relief.

"That's good." She smiled down at Celia, who offered a weak smile back. Mr Gordon then came wondering up.

"We have a problem." He quietly stated.

"What is it? Wait, what are you even doing here?" Mr Gordon blinked at Dr Thompkins.

"I helped Harvey track down Dr Neita's attacker." Celia perked up at that.

"You know who he is?" She asked, and Mr Gordon looked at her.

"Yeah, and you're not gonna like it." Celia frowned. That was never a good sigh. It either meant she'd killed a psychopath or a well-known public figure. When she'd first seen her attacker, she'd been too terrified for her mind to recognise him as someone familiar. Thinking back on his face, no well-known figures that looked like him came to mind so it couldn't be that. Which meant it was a psychopath. The only time killing a psychopath was bad was when they work for someone even worse. But who could her attacker have worked for?

"Well, isn't this just exciting?" A new voice called, and Celia snapped out of her thoughts to see a short man dressed in a black three-piece suit had appeared in the doorway. His hair was black and strangely styled, nose long like a beak. He was using an umbrella as a walking stick and had several bodyguards behind him. He looked familiar to Celia, but she didn't know why. Maybe she'd seen his face around town?

"Mayor Cobblepot, what brings you to the police station?" Captain Barnes asked, tone tight and smiled clearly forced. Celia felt her blood freeze. Mayor Cobblepot? That would mean the man she'd killed had worked under the mayor? Celia felt a wave of nausea pass through her.

"I heard that one of my bodyguards was killed last night." He said, limping his way down the stairs and towards the captain. He looked a bit like a waddling penguin. "By a member of your staff, no less." Captain Barnes stood up straighter as the short, but no less intimidating man came to stand in front of him. This was the man Mr Nygma worked for. She could see why the former forensic scientist held respect for the former criminal.

Celia glanced at the people who'd followed Mayor Cobblepot down the stairs and saw his chief of staff was not present. Celia felt relieved in a weird way, though she wasn't sure why and didn't really feel like thinking about it. Instead, she focused on the conversation between the mayor and the captain. "Then he shouldn't have tried to assault the girl." Celia felt relieved he'd left out the sexual part of that claim. 

The mayor smiled in a charming way that a teenage girl would deem cute. "Trust me, captain, Shane Fowler is not that kind of man." Anyone else would have believed the mayor's poor excuse but Captain Barnes only seemed anger by it.

"Oh yeah? Tell that to the woman he tried to kill." Detective Bullock said, stepping in and gesturing his head towards Celia and Mayor Cobblepot turned his head to see who he was referring to. His eyes seemed to widen once landing on Celia. The man slowly began limping his way over, Detective Bullock and Captain Barnes in toe.

Celia watched as the man climbed the stairs and came to stand in front of her. His eyes did a quick once over, taking in all her injuries and Celia resisted the urge to remove her eyes away from the man. Luckily, there was nothing malicious or sexual about his gaze, so Celia didn't feel threatened by him. "It would appear I don't know my staff as well as I would have liked," The man stuttered. "Seems to be a trend lately." He continued under his breath, though it didn't look like anyone other than Celia had heard him.

"Obviously genius," Detective Bullock said, sounding pissed and Celia wanted to hug the man. "Now tell us why you sent one of your bodyguards after Dr Neita here and be quick about it!" Mayor Cobblepot looked at Detective Bullock like he was crazy.

"What? I did not! Why would I have any reason to do that?" Detective Bullock took a step closer to the mayor.

"I was hoping you would tell me that!" Mayor Cobblepot stood his ground despite the pissed off cop in front of him, though he looked like he wanted to turn tail and bolt. Luckily, Mr Gordon stepped in before Detective Bullock actually hit the mayor.

"Harvey, stop it. If Mayor Cobblepot says, he didn't do it, then he didn't do it." Detective Bullock spun around, glaring at his former partner.

"Oh come on, Jim, you can't seri-" Mr Gordon cut him off.

"Dr Neita said she was just going for a walk, something no one could have predicted. Besides, Mayor Cobblepot hasn't even met Dr Neita before, why would he have any malice for her?" Detective Bullock glanced at Mayor Cobblepot, who looked shocked that Mr Gordon was defending him.

"Cobblepot may not have met Dr Neita…but Nygma has. I saw them talk about the Burn-blade case. The freak probably got jealous that she was showing him up!" Mayor Cobblepot scoffed as if the idea was absurd. Which is kind of was. Mr Nygma seemed like the kind of man who would deal with his problems himself, not send someone else to do it.

"Ed would never!" Mayor Cobblepot defended his chief of staff, and Detective Bullock turned to glare at him.

"I agree." A voice sounded, and everyone turned to see Mr Nygma standing there, smirking. Celia watched Mayor Cobblepot's face light up out of the corner of her eye. Interesting. "And freak, Harvey? Little crude don't ya think?" Detective Bullock opened his mouth to retort, but a glare from Mr Gordon shut him up.

"Ed, what are you doing here? I thought you had a meeting with Mr Tarn's family." Mayor Cobblepot asked. Celia frowned. Tarn? The name sounded familiar. Then is clicked in Celia's mind. He must have meant Tran as in Cooper Tran.

"Tran," Mr Nygma corrected and stopped in front of the mayor, smiling at him. "And I came once I'd heard what happened. It's very upsetting." Detective Bullock scoffed. 

"For Celia or the bastard that assaulted her?" Mr Nygma looked at Celia, something akin to concern appearing in his eyes as they scanned her injuries, lingering on her neck. He then looked at Detective Bullock.

"For Dr Neita of course. She shouldn't have to have gone through something like that." Mr Nygma sounded genuine, the mocking tone from before gone. Celia wasn't completely sure if she believed him, though she wanted to.

 _"He's right. You shouldn't have had to go through that,"_ 'N's voice sounded, and Celia stiffened. Luckily, everyone was too focused on the two ex-criminals in front of her to notice. _"Though I'm kind of glad you did."_ Celia closed her eyes, willing 'N' to leave even though she never did.

An argument had broken out amongst everyone around her, but Celia paid it no heed, focused only on 'N'. _"Tell me you remember the fear that had been present in his eyes when you'd pulled out the gun,"_ Celia took in a deep breath. _"Remember the way his eyes pleaded for his life, but you paid it no mind."_ Celia released her breath. _"Remember the rush that had gone through you when you'd pulled the trigger!"_ Celia opened her eyes and stood up very quickly, gaining everyone's attention though she focused her eyes on Mayor Cobblepot.

"Are you going to press charges?" She asked and confusion passed over the mayor's face.

"What?" He asked, sounding slightly shocked. Celia took in a deep breath, willing her heart to calm down.

"Sir, are you going to press charges against me for kil-," Celia felt her throat catch on that word again. She coughed and continued. "For ending your bodyguard's life?" Mayor Cobblepot looked around at everyone briefly, scoffing as if the idea was ridiculous.

"No, of course not!" He sounded genuine, and Celia nodded. That all she needed to hear.

"Then if you'll please excuse me, I need to use the bathroom." Celia nodded at the man before turning on her heel and making her way to the bathroom, not sparing them a glance backwards. 'N' always choose the worst times to appear. She quickly made her way to the bathroom, grateful Leah didn't try to follow.

She was once again blessed that the bathroom was devoid of life. She quickly made her way to the sink, taking off her glasses and splashing water on her face, trying to calm her beating heart. _"You look troubled."_ Celia laughed at 'N's amused voice and looked up into the mirror, seeing her reflection smiling back at her.

"I wish you would stop talking to me when other people are around." 'N' laughed.

 _"And miss out on endless opportunities to mess with you? Yeah, I don't think so."_ Celia glared at her reflection, turning the tap on to wash her hands. _"Why do you continue to deny me? I'm you."_ Celia took in a deep breath.

"You are not me." Celia denied, but it lacked the same certainty it usually had. 'N' just laughed.

 _"Your right, I'm not. I'm better than you in every way."_ Celia scoffed. She didn't think she had the ability to sound so arrogant. _"Everyone would love me. More than they love you."_ Celia went back to washing her hands, trying to block out 'N's voice, even though she couldn't. _"You know they don't actually like you. They just pretend to. So they can have access to your intellect."_

"Stop talking", Celia said with a lot more certainty. 'N' paid her no heed.

 _"Give me control, I can make them love us, respect us. Fear us! Make them truly appreciate us for who we are!"_ Celia scoffed again.

"Us?" She asked, scepticism dripping from her voice. 'N' smiled manically.

 _"Your right. It'll be me they love. You'll just be forgotten."_ Celia rolled her eyes and once again tried to wash her hands. _"Especially if you keep that act up."_ Celia turned off the tap, grabbing a few paper sheets.

"What act?" She asked, humouring her darker self. It was the reason they talked so much. Celia always humoured her.

 _"That you feel ashamed and guilty,"_ Celia stopped drying her hands. _"Ashamed for getting into that kind of situation and guilty for killing that bastard,"_ 'N' laughed. _"God, it's hard to watch,"_ Celia threw the paper towels in the bin and looked at her reflection, smiling back at her. _"Since you know, it doesn't really exist."_ Celia stiffened and glared hard at her reflection. _"You don't think I know? Well, I do. I know you don't feel guilty about killing that man, about taking that gun and ending his life."_

"Be quiet!!" Celia yelled at her reflection. 'N' just kept of smirking. She grabbed her glasses and put them back on, walking away from the mirror and ignoring 'N's manic laughing. She knew 'N' was going to get worse after last night. She just knew it. She wouldn't believe 'N'. She wouldn't. She did feel guilty about killing Fowler. She had to feel guilty. If she didn't, then 'N' would be right. And 'N' could never be right. God, she hoped her stay in Gotham wasn't extended by some other unfortunate event…


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leah is asked to return to Antagan but Celia required to stay in Gotham and is asked to stick around the GCPD, consulting a bizarre crime scene and a dangerous one.

"Do you really have to go?" Celia asked once again as she helped Leah carry her stuff out to the taxi out front of their hotel, ignoring the dirty look she got from the receptionist. Leah only laughed and shook her head. "You could always assist Daphne via phone call." Leah scoffed at that.  
  
"Oh, cause I'm sure that'll go down well." They reached the taxi and Celia loaded Leah's duffle bag into the bag after her suitcase. "Leah, you lazy wretch! Get your ass up to Antagan and help with me with this bastard of a case, god damn it!" Leah stated in a perfect imitation of her grumpy partner. Celia laughed. It had been a long time since she'd last heard Detective Daphne Genet's voice and she honestly missed the aging woman. "She'd come down and drag me back to Antagan herself." Celia nodded in agreement. Daphne would do that, she didn't doubt it.  
  
"I can't believe I'm not allowed to go back." Celia stated, the joking atmosphere dissipating as she thought back to the phone call Captain Barnes had received yesterday from ACPD's captain after he'd 'kicked' Mayor Cobblepot and Mr Nygma out of the police station. He'd been told that Leah was to return to Antagan immediately to help track down an escaped prisoner and Celia was to stay with the GCPD a little longer to allow the whole 'killing one of the mayor's bodyguard' incident to die down.  
  
Even though Mayor Cobblepot hadn't pressed charges, he had been required to let the public know what happened as the 'honest' mayor he was. Despite the fact that Mayor Cobblepot had insisted that Shane Fowler was to blame for his own death, the public still managed to see Celia as the bad guy. She couldn't blame them, but it meant that as soon as someone learned her name, she got given a dirty look. Fortunately, she received looks like that quite frequently, so it didn't really bother her. It did suck that she couldn't go home though.  
  
"I know, but the ban won't be forever. You shot a bodyguard of the mayor. Even if he was a crook, that's a lot of legal tape to work through. And just because Mayor Cobblepot didn't press charges doesn't mean Fowler's family won't." Celia nodded. She heard all of this from ACPD's captain. "You need to be here in case something happens."  
  
"I know", Celia said as Leah finished packing her stuff in the taxi and closed the boot. Leah turned to her, a smile on her face.  
  
"I don't like it either, but it is what it is. But don't worry. I'm gonna be back to get you the minute Chin is back in prison." Celia smiled at Leah and followed back into the hotel lobby as she went to check out.  
  
"Still can't believe Chin broke out of jail. Again." Celia muttered as Leah nodded at the receptionist. Celia smiled at her but got a filthy look in return. Both she and Leah ignored it.  
  
"It was bound to happen sooner or later. The man is a genius." Leah followed the receptionist instruction on signing out, using the card she'd been given by ACPD's captain to pay for her room. Celia hummed in agreement.  
  
"Think you'll be able to catch him?" Leah nodded to the receptionist as she finished paying and made her way back to the taxi out front, Celia in toe.  
  
"Eventually. It might take longer without you around to predict his every move." Celia giggled and watched as Leah put away the card.  
  
"I'm sure you'll manage. ACPD's other forensic scientist are very capable. Plus, you have my notes from the last time this happened. And you can always call." Leah hummed in agreement and turned to look at Celia, a warm smile on her face. She put a hand on Celia's shoulder.  
  
"It's gonna be fine. Daphne and I are gonna catch, Chin. You are not going to be charged with murder, and we'll all live happily ever after in Antagan's streets." Celia laughed and moved forward, pulling her friend into a hug, closing her eyes.  
  
"Thank you." She whispered into Leah's shoulder and felt the detective smile. She basked in her friends embrace for a few more seconds, and when she pulled away, she truly felt as if it would all be okay. Leah winked at her before getting into the taxi, waving at Celia as the taxi started and drove away, Celia waving back as the vehicle disappeared into traffic.  
  
_"Hopefully this chase for Chin results in his death,"_ 'N' stated, appearing next to Celia, who was still watching traffic, her smile long gone. "The bastard would definitely deserve it," For once, Celia couldn't bring herself to disagree with her darker self. _"Though I would prefer he died by our hand."_ Celia took in a deep breath and turned away from the road and 'N'. She wished she didn't prefer that too.

  
**~~~**

  
"So she's gone?" Captain Barnes asked, and Celia nodded.  
  
"Yeah. She should be back in Antagan in a few hours." The captain nodded and stood up.  
  
"How do you feel about that?" He asked, rounding his desk. Celia smiled at him.  
  
"While I would prefer to go home, I understand that the investigation into Shane Fowler's death is a priority. Besides, Leah can always call if she needs me." Captain Barnes nodded and made his way towards the door, gesturing for Celia to follow. Celia did, though she noticed the man didn't take his cane with him. Odd.  
  
"Good. I'm glad you understand," He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, turning to look at her, "And I want you to know that regardless of what the rest of the city thinks, you did nothing wrong by ending Fowler's life." Celia nodded her head, smiling. It felt nice to hear it from someone who was such a stickler for the law. Though, she didn't think Captain Barnes would feel that way if he knew her true feelings behind the incident. Feelings that 'N' felt. Not her.  
  
Captain Barnes continued walking. "We are the police and sometimes ending someone's life comes with the job description." Celia looked at the captain in confusion. If she didn't know better, she would think he was talking to himself more than her. As if trying to convince himself of something. But that was just ridiculous, and Celia quickly banished the thought.  
  
"I understand, Captain. And I hope you know that as long as I'm here, I'm happy to help out in any way I can." Captain Barnes turned his head to look at her, smiling slightly.  
  
"I'm glad to hear that. We could always use a forensic scientist with your skillset." Celia laughed slightly. The Captain turned back around, leading them towards Detective Bullock's desk.  
  
_"For someone who has recently killed a man, you annoyingly jolly."_ 'N's voice sounded, and Celia stiffened slightly but didn't falter her step. She continued following the captain, pretending 'N' didn't exist. 'N' laughed but said nothing else.  
  
They reached Detective Bullock just as he hung up the phone and began to stand up. "Just got a report about a suspect homicide involving a newlywed couple and a kid. I was just gonna go and check it out." Captain Barnes nodded.  
  
"Well, Dr Neita and I will join you," Confusion streaked across Detective Bullock's face. "I need to get out of the office." Captain Barnes offered as an excuse, and Detective Bullock nodded in understanding. He picked up his hat and placed it on his head.  
  
"Then let's go."

  
**~~~**

  
The married couple looked young. Celia didn't think they were older than twenty-five. She moved her gaze down to the bouquet still in the woman's hands than to the joined hands of the couple. They must off fell together. She looked at the blood covering the couple's backs, staining the woman's clear white wedding dress an unnatural red. The kind of red that didn't belong on a wedding dress. A shiver went down her spine as she remembered the feeling of Fowler's warm blood all over her hands. She took in a deep breath. No, she wouldn't focus on that right now. She had a crime scene to analysis.  
  
A crime scene that didn't really make sense to her. Detective Bullock said that is was a suspected homicide, but the position of the victims suggested they fell willingly. They were even holding hands. Victims falling against their will tended to go feet first, hoping their legs would break their fall and let them live but the position of the married couple suggested they leaned off the wall, flipping over in the air to land on their backs. It was contradicting.  
  
"Got anything?" Captain Barnes asked, and Celia looked up at him from her crouching position.  
  
"They don't look like homicide victims," She said, looking back down at the married couple. "They clearly had to have leaned off the wall in order to land on their backs and, generally, only willing people commit suicide that way. Forced people tend to go feet first, to break their fall." She heard Captain Barnes nod.  
  
"But?" Celia looked up at him, "Your tone suggested there was a 'but' to your assessment." Celia looked back down at the victims.  
  
"They just got married. That morning! Your wedding is supposed to be the happiest day of your life, so why would they commit suicide? And so far away from the church too? It doesn't add up," Celia huffed. "The only thing I can think of is someone 'persuaded' them to do it."  
  
Captain Barnes huffed. "Like hypnotism?" Celia stopped the shaking of her head and looked up at the captain, in slight shock. How had she not thought of that?  
  
"Yeah, exactly like hypnotism." Captain Barnes nodded, and they both looked back down at the dead married couple. The expressions on their faces somehow looked peaceful. It sent Celia for a loop. She'd never really been in love. She had a boyfriend once before, but she wasn't exactly sure what her feelings towards him had been. It was a bit of a blur. Their relationship was a bit of a blur to her. She didn't even remember what his name was. Not anything real at least. They'd gotten together during her 'rebellious' phase. All her memories from then were hazy.  
  
Detective Bullock came wandering up to them, pulling Celia from her memories. "Hey, Cap, I just spoke to that kid over there. You're not gonna believe this. He said Jim Gordon saved his life." Celia looked up at that. Mr Gordon was here? "Pulled him out of the way of a truck."  
  
"Get him on the phone now." Captain Barnes insisted.  
  
"I already tried him. No answer." Captain Barnes shook his head at Detective Bullock's response and made his way to stand at the victim's feet. Detective Bullock watched him walk and gestured to his leg. "What happen? You forget your cane?" Captain Barnes glanced at him.  
  
"I don't need it anymore." Celia frowned slightly. Didn't need it anymore? That was odd. Celia had assumed his knee injury was irreversible, and she would have definitely noticed if the man had had surgery. But she decided not to question it, instead taking a look at their surroundings. "Put an all-points out on Gordon. I want him found."  
  
Celia's eyes locked onto a strange man dressed in all white. His hair was white, clothes, shoes, even his skin looked unnaturally white. He also appeared to be talking to himself. Detective Bullock noticed him too because he pointed the guy out to the captain. "Hey, does that guy look strange to you? I mean, more so than the usual whack job?"  
  
"Hey, pal!" Captain Barnes called, making his way over with Detective Bullock in toe. Celia stood up and followed them. "You see what happened here?" He asked when they got close.  
  
The strange man slowly turned towards them, continuing to mutter "…I have a message for you. James Gordon, I have a message for you. James Gordon, I have a message for you." Detective Bullock nodded slightly.  
  
"He's hypnotised." The strange man continued, blind to the world around him.  
  
"James Gordon, I have a message for you."  
  
"Tetch." Captain Barnes declared. Celia frowned. Tetch? As in Jervis Tetch, the hypnotist? Captain Barnes quickly had Detective Bullock arrested the man before heading back to the other police officers, the white-suited man in handcuffs. Celia watch them go, frowning.  
  
She'd read a couple files about Jervis Tetch, finding his uncanny ability for hypnotism fascinating. She'd heard that his sister, Alice, had died trying to escape him, having fallen off a bridge and ended up impaled on a spike. Alice's blood had a toxicity to it, carry some sort of virus. Dr Thompkins had been running tests on her blood when Celia had first come to the GCPD over a week ago. She knew her brother was deranged and hoped nothing horribly bad happened to Jim Gordon.  
  
_"You could learn a lot from a guy like Jervis Tetch."_ Celia stiffened as 'N' appeared in front of her, blocking her view of the police. _"He'd make a good role model."_ Celia glared at 'N' but didn't give her an answer. _"Especially for a crazy person like us."_ Celia closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. No, she'd decided that she would no longer respond to 'N', no matter what she said. At least for the moment. Celia opened her eyes and walked past 'N', making her way over to the police and ignoring the feel of 'N's eyes on her back.

  
**~~~**

  
"So, you're not on the case?" Leah's voice asked through the phone. Celia finished pouring boiling water into her mug, putting the kettle down and grabbing a spoon to stir in the tea.  
  
"No, it's not really a forensic case since they know who committed it. Well, not a forensic case they needed me on, as Detective Bullock had put it," She heard Leah laugh. "They're having me go through unsolved case files instead. Seeing if I find something they missed." Leah laughed again as Celia took out the teabag.  
  
"Well, your option is valuable, and a fresh set of eyes never hurt." Celia smiled, adding a bit of milk and sugar before picking up her mug and making her way to the couch where a box of case files was opened.  
  
"How about you? Did you discover how Chin escaped from prison?" Leah sighed, it sounded heavy, meaning the answer was probably something gruesome. It often was when it came to Dr Dylan Chin.  
  
"He 'persuaded' one of the psychiatrists to poison his guards, causing them to die. She then helped him escape by blowing his cell wall in, and he killed her. As thanks." Celia closed her eyes. Yeah, that sounded like something the mad doctor would do. "We don't have any leads on his location yet. He's gone off-grid." Celia took a sip of her tea, frowning when it burned her tongue. "Which I don't blame him for. Captain's order a city-wide manhunt for the man. We'll find him." Celia nodded her head, then realised Leah couldn't see her  
  
"That's good. The quicker that man is behind bars, the quicker everyone will sleep better," A nervous laugh let Leah's lips. "What?"  
  
"Well, the mayor hasn't really let anyone outside of the ACPD know Chin's escaped. I don't think he even had the captain tell Barnes." Celia closed her eyes. That sounded a lot like the mayor as well. "Said he didn't want to cause a city-wide panic."  
  
"That'll come back to haunt him when Chin finds a new victim." She heard Leah agree. They went on talking for a little while longer, changing topics to something more joyful. Eventually, though, Celia said goodbye and checked the time. 12:37 am. She should probably go to sleep. Celia finished her tea before getting up and heading for the bathroom.  
  
She went about her daily night routine and glanced in the mirror only to find her reflection smiling too widely back at her. She jumped. 'N' laughed, "Gotcha!" Celia glared at her reflection briefly before going about her routine. _"You can't not talk to me, Cece."_ Celia gave herself a look that said 'Yes I can.' 'N' glared back. _"Fine. Give me the silent treatment. It won't stop me from dropping in on you."_ Celia ignored 'N' and left the bathroom once she was in her PJs.  
  
She knew she shouldn't ignore 'N' for too long. The last time she'd done that, 'N' had retaliated by taking over her hand and causing her to stab a criminal though the hand with a knife. Luckily, Leah had been the only other person in the room, so she'd been able to cover for her. But Leah was gone, meaning Celia had to be extra careful. She had no doubt in her mind that Captain Barnes would send her to a mental institute if he discovered her having conversations with herself about her feelings towards death. She'd talk to 'N' tomorrow if she showed up.

  
**~~~**

  
The old, grittiness of the Gotham buildings flew by Celia's eyes as she watched them through the police cruiser's window, grabbing onto the door handle when the car went over a very bad bump. She was currently en route to a new crime scene, having been assign by Captain Barnes as the lead forensic scientist. The man had decided that as long as she was at GCPD than she was an employee of his. She didn't really care since it gave her something to do as the whole Fowler incident continued to be sorted out.  
  
The police cruiser arrived in front of city hall, and Celia sighed. Figures the captain would put her on a political case considering how quickly she'd solved the last one. Though, they have yet to track down the assassin who did that. Celia told Detective Bullock that he'd probably left Gotham by now since Cooper Tran had only been a hit. They were still searching the city for the killer anyway.  
  
Celia got out of the police cruiser and thanked Officer Clay for the ride. He smiled at her and led her into the building. Her mind flashed back to the first time she'd entered those door, with Leah by her side, and she smiled. They walked into the lobby, and Celia's eyes did a quick scan. They'd removed all trace of Cooper Tran's death, or tried too. Celia could see a very faint outline of the area where Cooper Tran's head had been smashed in.  
  
"You can't even tell, can you?" A sight stuttering voice said, and Celia looked up to see Mayor Cobblepot limp his way over, a smile on his face. "That a crime was committed here?" Celia nodded to the mayor as he stopped in front of her, humming. She wanted to tell the man she could but also didn't want to offend him. He was the Gotham mayor after all. "You can tell, can't you?" He asked, and Celia smiled at the man.  
  
"A little bit. But I was there. To anyone else though, this place is spotless. No trace of a crime." Mayor Cobblepot looked around.  
  
"Yes, well my chief of staff has some knowledge about this stuff." Celia nodded her head at the man. That didn't surprise her. Mr Nygma was a former forensic scientist.  
  
"Are you Celia Neita?" A deep voice asked, and Celia turned to see a rather large man in a suit looming over her, his stare hard and slightly mad. They went to her neck, and Celia resisted the urge to swallow. Her neck still had a faint bruised outline of Fowler's handprint. She smiled.  
  
"Yes, I am. Are you the detective on this case?" She asked, and the man nodded stiffly. Detective Bullock was tracking down Tetch with the captain.  
  
"Detective Hardner." He didn't offer his hand for Celia to shake. She nodded at him. His last name was rather fitting in her option. He gestured forward. "The crime scene this way." And with that, he strolled past Celia and Mayor Cobblepot, almost hitting the mayor on the shoulder. The mayor smiled.  
  
"What a polite gentleman." He stuttered slightly, and Celia agreed with him, before making her way past Mayor Cobblepot, being sure not to hit him, and following the large man towards the crime scene. She heard Mayor Cobblepot limp behind her. They went down a hallway before entering a large room full of officers, some taking photos, others questioning the staff present. The smell of burning flesh entered her nose, and Celia immediately got a sick feeling to her stomach. She hated burn victims.  
  
Detective Hardner led her towards the centre of the room where a familiar figure was standing over something. Celia identified the figure as Edward Nygma. He looked up at the sound of them approaching and smiled slightly. "Dr Neita, I'd heard you would be the lead forensic scientist on this case," He watched Detective Hardner walked past, eyes trailing the man. "I'm eager to see what you can do."  
  
"Likewise." Mayor Cobblepot said from behind her and Celia looked at the smiles on both men faces. She chuckled.  
  
"No pressure." She mused. A cough brought her attention, and Detective Hardner was glaring at her. He then gestured to the ground, and Celia's eyes followed, seeing the victim for the first time. She stiffened and had to hold in her gasp.  
  
It was a man, as far as Celia could tell, and he was mutilated to the high heavens. All of his limbs had been cut off, and the clothes he'd been wearing had been burned away, along with some of his flesh and all of his hair. He was missing his ears, nose, lips, teeth and eyes. Celia took in a deep breath.  
  
"Wow," She muttered and slowly began to make her way around the corpse, eyes going over his burn marks. They were clearly made from fire and, judging from how bad they are, the man had been burning for a long time. There was also no foam on him to suggest he'd been put out. He also wasn't wet. She sniffed the air. No smoke. Though it was kind of hard to tell. She turned to Detective Bullock. "Did someone put him out?" She asked, and the detective shook his head.  
  
"Nope. Assistant found him like that." Celia nodded. She looked at the ground around the man to see bits of melted flesh leaking around the floor. She controlled her shiver. "Listen, if this is too much for you, Miss Neita, you're welcome to leave. I'll have someone else take a look." The 'too much for a girl bit' was left implied. Celia smiled sweetly at the man, not even trying to make it look real.  
  
"It's doctor, Detective Hardner, and this is far from the worst thing I've seen," She kneeled down to get a closer look at the victim. "I've seen things that would make you go empty your lunch into a nearby toilet, so thank you, but I'm okay." She looked away from the man, not waiting for a response. He just grunted before turning on his heel and leaving.  
  
"Report all your findings to me." He stated before he was gone. Celia paid him no mind. She trailed her eyes over the victim's body. Now that she was closer, she could see it had a pink tint to it. She looked at the site of the amputated arm. The wound wasn't neat, looking like the arm had been ripped off than cut off. She leaned forward slightly. Yeah, the humerus was missing. Celia sighed and look at the man in pity. He hadn't had a quick death that was for sure.  
  
"Have anything?" Mr Nygma voice sounded, and she looked up at him. His gaze was genuinely curious. She looked back down at the victim, standing up.  
  
"It's a man. The state of his flesh makes age hard to determine, but I would say early forties. The cause of death looks to be burning alive. His limbs have been ripped off, but the medical examiner will have to determine if that happened post-mortem. I can say that he wasn't killed here, though. Someone most likely broke in and left him here." Mayor Cobblepot scoffed, and she looked at him.  
  
'"How could he not have died here?" She smiled at the man.  
  
"Have a look around. This place is spotless, no blood marks, no sign of a struggle. Sure, the killer could have cleaned up, but there are also no burn marks, and you can't clean those up. No, I'd say someone with security clearance broke in and left this man for you to see." Mayor Cobblepot went a little pale.  
  
"Me?" He asked, and Celia nodded.  
  
"As a warning. This man doesn't work here. His suit burned easily, in fact, its barley there so it's definitely not the kind of suit someone in politics would wear, it's too cheap. So, not an employee of yours. If that's the case, then you probably don't know this man. His most likely a stand-in, just someone the killer ran into. Discovering his identity won't lead you to the killer." She heard Mr Nygma hum. She turned to him to see he looked impress.  
  
"I was thinking the same thing. Though I'd assumed he'd been dead when he burned?" Celia smiled at the man.  
  
"I'd thought so too when I first him but the pink tint to his skin is too dark to be a result of just the burning. His blood was still pumping when this man was burning." Mr Nygma nodded.  
  
"Do you think the de-limping is important?" He asked Celia nodded her head.  
  
"Absolutely. It's a part of the man's fantasy. The removing of the limps and facial features isn't to post-pone identification. Like I said, this man is just a stand-in, who he is isn't relevant. No, it's a message. Not like an assassin message, this kill is way too personal to be an assassin. No, this is a foreboding, showing what he is going to do to his real target." A look of dread overcame Mr Nygma's face, and she couldn't blame him. She was feeling the same dread.  
  
"Real target? Who's his real target?" Mayor Cobblepot asked after Celia hadn't said anything for a while. Mr Nygma looked at her, eyes asking the question and she looked away, confirming his question. "What?" Mr Nygma took in a big breath.  
  
"It's you, Oswald. Dr Neita is saying that you are this man's real target and that everything he did to this man, he wants to do to you." Celia looked up at the man, noting the dread on his face.  
  
"You're the target of a deranged murderer, Mayor Cobblepot." Mayor Cobblepot looked back between Celia and Mr Nygma, looking like a deer caught between two guns. It was strange to see such a look of panic on the man.  
  
"Oh, my goodness!" A feminine voice cried, and Celia looked past both men to see a woman with blonde hair done up in a bun was standing in the door, a book shielding the rest of her face. She noticed a surprised look appear on Mr Nygma's face.  
  
"Isabella!? What are you doing here?" He asked, running over to the woman. She lowered the book once he'd block her view of the corpse.  
  
"We were supposed to be having lunch. With the mayor?" She emphasised. Celia couldn't see Mr Nygma face but his body language suggested he'd just remembered. He rushed to apologise, and Celia looked away, drowning out the conversation. She didn't need to know about Mr Nygma's relationship troubles.  
  
Instead, she focused on the body in front of her. There was something off about it. She was missing a crucial detail about the death of the man in front of her. A forensic scientist walked by, and she stopped them, asking for some gloves and a miniature magnifying glass. They handed her them, and she quickly slipped on the gloves, kneeling back down and holding the magnifying glass to the expose arm socket it.  
  
She ran the magnifying glass along the edge, taking note of the wound pattern. Most of it looked like the wound pattern of an arm being ripped out, but there were a few areas with irregularities. She focused on one of them. It was a small, barely noticeable half-circle but it was there. It also had small indications in it. A wound that was too perfect to result from the arm ripping off. A thought hit Celia, and she almost dropped her magnifying glass.  
  
_"Cannibal,"_ 'N' voice sounded and Celia only just controlled her jump. She glanced to see 'N' was sitting on the ground next to her, legs crossed. _"Now that's just sick."_ Celia gave her a fleeting look that said 'Are you serious?' 'N' shrugged. _"What? I may be crazy, but I'm not that crazy."_ Celia couldn't really disagree with that. 'N' liked to talk about dark things, but she'd never once mentioned eating someone. Sleeping with someone, yes but not eating them.  
  
"This is not good." Celia whispered, and 'N' agreed. Cannibals were extremely deranged people. They were the kind of people that could never be cured since what they did caused sickness itself. If a cannibal was after Mayor Cobblepot than the man was never truly safe unless the man died. Celia thought about putting a gun to a cannibal's head and pulling the trigger and closed her eyes, willing the image away. That was not her.  
  
"Are you okay, Miss?" A sweet voice asked, and Celia looked up to see the woman - Isabella - looking at her with concern, as well as Mr Nygma and Mayor Cobblepot. At some point, Mayor Cobblepot had walked over and joined his chief of staff by the door, though he looked less than pleased about it. Celia smiled slightly.  
  
"Yeah. I'm fine," Isabella went to open her mouth to say something else, but Celia turned to a forensic scientist holding a camera, indicating the conversation was over. She wasn't trying to be rude, but her discovery needed to be documented as quickly as possible. "Direct flash at the arm socket, magnify the camera, so you get as close as possible. Do the same for the other limb sockets." The forensic scientist nodded and with that Celia left, ignoring the feel of eyes on her back as she went to seek out Detective Hardner. He needed to know what she'd found…


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Celia consults on several different crime scenes while worrying about an enemy from her home town. A new enemy of Celia's manages to bring her life crumbling down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to point out any mistakes.

"A cannibal!?" Captain Barnes asked, anger pouring off his body. Celia tried not to flinch at his tone. Instead, she stood taller. "You suggested that the mayor was under threat by a cannibal!?" The captain made his way around the desk, moving quickly now that he didn't use his cane. Celia nodded her head. "And after a quick glance at his flesh?!"

"Yes, sir." She confirmed and heard a chuckle. She flicked her eyes to see Detective Hardner leaning against a desk, trying and failing to hold back a smirk. Celia wanted to hit him.

 _"You should."_ 'N' sounded next to her, but Celia ignored her and looked back at the captain.

"Have I done something wrong?" She asked, and Captain Barnes looked like he wanted to strangle her. Her mind flashed back to a few nights ago. To a rough hand around her neck and Celia felt the sudden need to grab her gun but she resisted.

"You told the mayor that he was being hunted by a cannibal without any solid proof!" Celia frowned. No, she hadn't. She'd told Mayor Cobblepot that he was the target of a deranged murder, which was true. She'd left to find Detective Hardner to tell him about her discoveries and had been dragged back to the GCPD by the man before anyone could tell the mayor.

"No, I didn't." Captain Barnes' glare lessened at those words, but it didn't disappear.

"What?" He asked, and Celia glanced at Detective Hardner to see shock and annoyance on his face. Ha!

"I concluded that Mayor Cobblepot was under threat by a deranged murderer by being his real target. However, Mr Nygma was the one to tell the man a deranged murderer was after him. I had agreed since the Chief of Staff was clearly right. Had you seen the body, you would have thought the exact same thing." Captain Barnes' angry aura slowly began to dissipate.

"But you two, you didn't tell him about the cannibal part?" Celia tried her best to not look offended.

"No. I may not be a detective, but I know well enough to not tell people something like that without solid proof. Plus, Mr Nygma wasn't aware of the cannibal part." Captain Barnes gave her a once over, his anger returning to its normal level. He nodded.

"I see. Then you free to go Dr Neita. I'm sorry to have yelled at you." Celia smiled at the man, nodding as she made her way to the door. Detective Hardner also tried to leave, but Captain Barnes voice stopped him "Not you." It was full of anger. Celia quickly high-tailed it out of there as soon as the door was shut. She stopped at a safe distance and watched as a yelling match erupted between Detective Hardner and Captain Barnes.

She was worried for the captain. She may not have known him for long, less than two weeks, but she knew something was wrong. It had to do with the lack of cane. She just knew it.

 _"Detective Hardner is going to be a problem."_ 'N' said, appearing next to Celia. She'd been doing it a lot lately. Appearing than disappearing just as briefly. Celia knew it was her subconscious doing something, but she wasn't sure why. Celia turned away from the captain's office and made her way to the forensic lab. She did have a potential cannibal to catch.

"Why?" Celia questioned 'N', once she was in the safety of the forensic lab, not at risk of being heard.

 _"Oh, she speaks to me!"_ 'N' gasped and Celia glared at herself but didn't repeat her question. _"He doesn't like us."_ 'N' stated and Celia scoffed.

"Yeah, a baby could have told you that and what's with all the 'us' and 'we' lately? Don't you want to get rid of me?" Celia asked and 'N' was suddenly in front of her.

 _"Oh, I do. I sooo do. I want to get rid of your weak and pathetic heart. Take it and crush so that I can be in control. We'd have so much more fun if I was in control."_ Celia took a step back even though 'N' didn't really have a sense of presence. At least, not a real one.

"But?" Celia asked because 'N' hadn't explained her reason for the 'us' and 'we'. 'N' stared at her.

 _"Chin has me worried."_ Celia blinked. Dylan Chin had 'N' worried? Her darker self was worried? The idea was a new and unwelcomed one in Celia's mind.

"Chin is currently in Antagan." Celia reassured but 'N' just shook her head.

 _"You both know you're not that stupid. Chin is off-grid, meaning his most likely not in Antagan anymore. Where do you think he'll go?"_ Celia looked away from 'N'. She didn't really want to think about where Chin would go. Suddenly Celia was laughing. And laughing. Like she'd lost control of vocal cords. It was a lot like the laugh she'd made when she'd kill Fowler. Manic and uncontrollable.

"Stop it!" She yelled into the air, stopping her laughter. 'N' was just staring at her. Celia took in a deep breath. 'N' had also been doing that lately. Forcing Celia to do things she usually wouldn't, like breaking out into uncontrollable laughter. Even since she'd kill Fowler, the shift in power and control between her and 'N' had shifted. 'N' had gained more while Celia lost had some. She just hoped it wasn't a lot.

 _"I don't care about you. I truly don't. I would be forever happy if you would leave and never come back. But I am also you which means if Chin does something to you, he does something to me too. You should take his break out more seriously."_ And then 'N' was gone and Celia was alone once again.

She knew 'N' was right. She should take him more seriously. So Celia took in a deep breath, sat down at the table and closed her eyes, thinking about the criminal. Dr Dylan Chin was a mad man. But he was a predictable mad man. At least to Celia he was. It made sense to her that he would eventually come to Gotham, come looking for her. Like he always did when he broke out of prison. It was probably the real reason Celia wasn't allowed to go back to Antagan.

If he did come to Gotham, assuming he wasn't already in Gotham, he wouldn't draw attention to himself right away. He'd wait until he was absolutely certain the plan he'd thought up would work and that there were no flaws. Which meant the police couldn't do anything until he made his move. Celia knew all this, knew it all off by heart. The only thing she didn't know was Chin's plan. A new city meant so many different plans could be executed. Not to mention, Chin was a completely new villain to the GCPD. They'd have no idea on how to handle him.

"Celia! You were right!" Dr Thompkins shouted, bursting into the forensic room. Celia was so startled that she fell out of her chair and landed on the ground face first. Dr Thompkins began to chuckle, and Celia felt like groaning. "Oh my god! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to startle you." Celia sat up, rubbing her sore cheek, and looked up at the medical examiner, who look bashful at her actions.

Celia shook her head. "It's fine. Did you need something?" She asked, crossing her legs and Dr Thompkins smiled widely at her.

"You were right!-Oh god. You split open that cut on your cheek?" Dr Thompkins set her file down onto of the counter and grabbed a tissue from her lab coat, bending down to dab at the blood on Celia's cheek. Celia frowned. She was right about what?

"About?" She inquired, and Dr Thompkins smiled, but it was smaller now.

"About the victim. You were right. He was burned alive." Celia nodded her head. Of course, Dr Thompkins was referring to the burn victim. "His arms and legs were also pulled off before death, but the wounds were cauterised so he wouldn't bleed out." Celia flinched. Now that was real, horrible torture.

"What about the whole cannibal thing?" Dr Thompkins sighed and sat back on her heels.

"Yeah. You were right about that too. The killer took little," Dr Thompkins shuddered, "bites from the arm sockets. He set the victim on fire once he was done. The man's only been dead for 24 hours." Celia nodded. She wouldn't be eating lunch at all today.

"Well, there goes my lunch break." Dr Thompkins nodded in agreement, removing some wound closures strips from her pocket, placing two across Celia's cheek.

"Try not to reopen it?" She asked, and Celia grinned up at the woman as she stood up and grabbed her file.

"You're the one that startled me." Dr Thompkins chuckled, shaking her head and leaving the forensic lab. Celia watched the door shut but didn't move from the ground. She hoped that Mayor Cobblepot wasn't in any danger from the deranged criminal though something told Celia the man was use to this kind of attention.

**~~~**

Celia should seriously consider a new profession. One that involved less creepy, abandoned buildings. Because, no matter what city it was, abandoned buildings were still the best place to hid dead bodies apparently. It made Celia seriously question the intelligence of the criminal class. She could list about six different ways a criminal could dispose of a body, and that was off the top of her head.

Sighing, Celia started to make her way into the building when Officer Clay ran out the door, holding a hand over his mouth. He managed to make it to the alleyway before Celia heard the baffing. Great. Another horrific crime scene. Because seeing a burnt body missing its limps wasn't enough. Celia wanted to go over and comfort Officer Clay, but she didn't know what to say. Crime scenes had never really been a problem to her. And telling someone, they'd get used to it never helped. In fact, it just made it worse.

Her thought process was broken when a black car loudly pulled up behind her. She turned and smiled as she watched Detective Bullock exit the car, Mr Gordon exiting the other side. She preferred the alcoholic detective vastly to Detective Hardner, who seems hell-bent on under minding her. After he'd got in trouble with Captain Barnes for jumping to conclusions, he'd been breathing down her neck on the cannibal case just to see if she would mess up.

She hadn't, of course, and even managed to find some evidence that tracked the cannibal's hideout to a warehouse. According to the detective, the man had been hanged by the time they got there. By who, they didn't know. He hadn't thought it was the cannibal at first, but Dr Thompkins proved him wrong when she matched the bit marks. Celia had tried her best not to laugh out loud at the detective's face and mostly succeeded. She did do a little giggle.

Since then, Detective Hardner glared at her whenever he saw her. It was both confusing and worrying. For the life of her, she couldn't figure out what the hell she'd done to the man. She talked to Leah about it who'd just summed it up to the man being jealous of her intelligence, but Celia didn't think that was it. That morning, she'd seen him carrying Shane Fowler's file, so the detective was definitely up to something.

"Hello? Celia?" Celia blinked to see Detective Bullock waving a hand in front of her face, Mr Gordon smiling behind him. "Oh, she back!" Celia shook her head, riding any thoughts of Detective Hardner. She'd think about the man later.

"Detective Bullock, I'm sorry. I got lost in thought." Detective Bullock smiled.

"Hey, don't worry about it. And I told you, it's Harvey." Celia smiled and nodded at the man. She should probably start calling the man Harvey since he didn't seem to hate it.

"Have you been inside yet?" Mr Gordon asked, and Celia shook her head.

"No, I just got here." Mr Gordon nodded his head. Detective Bull- Harvey placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Jim, here, has been reinstated as a detective and my partner." Celia smiled. She'd heard about that from Dr Thompkins, well Lee now, at lunch yesterday. The woman insisted they eat lunch together, though they often did it in the forensic lab since Celia liked to work during lunch.

"I heard. Congratulations, Detective Gordon." Detective Gordon smiled and waved his hand.

"Jim is fine." Celia nodded. She was glad everyone was comfortable enough with her to be on a first-name basis. Though it did make sense. They all called her Celia. Harvey had once tried to call her Cece, but it had made her flinch, and she'd snapped at him. Cece was 'N's nickname for her. She'd apologised to the detective later that day though. "Can we go inside?" Celia nodded and followed behind Jim and Harvey in the building.

Harvey began talking as they made their way to the crime scene. "Okay, so, a uni I.D.'d the vic. One Paulie Penopolus, aka Paulie Pennies." Jim nodded like he knew the name. Celia didn't.

"Clean up guy for the Gotham underworld." Harvey nodded.

"Bingo. I'm thinking it was some kind of business deal. Maybe an unhappy customer." Jim nodded his head.

"Perhaps a competitor." He said, adding his own input

"Good place to start." They nodded, continuing making their way to the crime scene. Celia couldn't help her smile. Jim and Harvey's partnership reminded her a lot of Leah and Daphne's. They both had the uttermost faith in each other. It was nice to watch.

Celia walked past Jim and Harvey as they had a quick heart to heart and entered the room only to freeze in her tracks. There were forensic scientists everywhere gathering evidence. Some were taking photos while other's swab surfaces. But that wasn't what made Celia freeze, no. It was the forensic scientists picking up body parts from the mutilated body hanging from a rope in the middle of the room.

She faintly heard Jim and Harvey enter the room behind her, just as shocked at the scene before them. It looked like someone had gone on a rampage. The air had a metallic taste to it, the kind that comes when there is too much blood in the air. And there was blood everywhere. On the walls, on the ground. It looked like someone had torn the poor man limb from limb judging by the spray patterns.

"This wasn't just business" Jim stated.

"We should call Barnes", Harvey added. Celia agreed with both of them.

**~~~**

Celia missed Antagan. More specifically, she missed its elevated railway system. Having an elevated railway system meant that car crashes like this didn't happen. Celia sighed as she watched a few of the police forensic scientists try and pry the smashed door off the car so they could get to the body inside. To the body of the woman who'd driven her car onto the railway. While a train had just about to cross.

Celia hadn't properly seen the victim yet. Just fleeting glimpses that told her she was a young woman dressed in nice clothes. That was all she had until she got a closer look at the victim. If she got a closer look at the victim. Detective Hardner was in charge of the processing the crash site, which meant her every movement was watched like a hawk watched its prey. And he'd decided that because she wasn't the official medical examiner, she didn't get to look at the body, despite her excellent knowledge of the human anatomy.

Celia had still yet to figure out why the man hated her. It wasn't because he hated forensic scientists. He'd been hired after the whole 'Edward Nygma' thing and worked fine with all the other forensic scientists. He even smiled at a few. And it wasn't because she was a girl. Yes, the man didn't have a lot of respect for women, but he tolerated them well enough. Celia had thought she'd offended him on a case he may have worked on back in Antagan, but his face didn't ring any alarm bells. So what was it?

She signed. This city was beginning to get to her if she was getting paranoid about a police officer who had no reason to hate her. " _I could have told you that."_ 'N' sounded and Celia turned to look at her. She was smirking. Celia sighed.

"What do you want?" She asked, for once too tired to care if anyone was watching. 'N' smiled.

 _"Nothing. Just thought I'd pop in. It's been a while."_ It had been a while. 'N' hadn't bothered her since their little chat about Chin a few days ago. Celia was actually concern and was gonna try and call her darker self later that night. Now it looked like she didn't need to.

"Why? Worried about me?" Celia joked but 'N' smile only grew dark.

 _"I'm worried about your body since you know, I'll need it when I take control."_ 'N' said it like it was going to happen the next day. It made Celia nervous.

"That's not going to happen." She said firmly, all humour pushed aside. 'N' just continued to smile.

 _"Oh, but it will. It's only a matter of time."_ The sound of the door breaking off the smashed car caused Celia to turn around, startle for a few seconds. When she turned back to 'N', she'd disappeared, but Celia still could hear her dark chuckle. _"I'll will be in control very soon, Cece. Very soon."_ 'N' never did drop in to see how Celia was doing.

She closed her eyes. 'N' clearly knew something Celia didn't. Something Celia had missed since their conversation about Chin. It was probably why she'd been absent as of late. God, the fact that her subconscious hated her because she rejected it and that she hated her subconscious back because of what it represented sent her for such a loop sometimes. She truly was not a sane person, far from it.

"Dr Neita?" A voice asked, and Celia turned to see a young forensic scientist standing behind her, looking at her strange. She must have zoned out again.

"Sorry, I was thinking. What did you need?" She asked, and the forensic scientist wiped the strange look off their face.

"The victim's body is ready for you to look at." Celia frowned. She wasn't supposed to look at the victim's body. A mysterious gleam appeared in the forensic scientist's eyes. "Detective Hardner is currently on the phone." Celia smiled and nodded towards the forensic scientist. They nodded back then lead her to where they'd put the body. It had a sheet over it, covering the face from view.

Celia nodded towards the forensic scientist, and they pulled back the sheet, causing the Celia to frown in surprise. Now that she could actually see the woman's face, she was painstakingly familiar. Like she'd seen her before. "Remove the glasses", Celia told the forensic scientist who obeyed and took off the glasses. Celia had to hold in a gasp as it hit her.

It was Isabella, the woman Mr Nygma appeared to be in a relationship with. She was wearing different clothes, and her hair colour was different from the blonde of before, but it was differently her. The resemblance was uncanny. Celia felt a great surge of sadness swell inside her. It was quite tragic. From the interaction she'd seen happen between Mr Nygma and Isabella, they'd looked like they really liked each other.

Not to mention, the woman had seemed genuinely happy. That didn't mean the woman wasn't depressed enough to commit suicide but judging from her appearance, that was the furthest thing from her mind. The woman looked like she was starting a new life rather than ending her current one. Celia mentioned for the forensic scientist to put the glasses back on and cover the body. They did then came to stand next to her. "Unlock her phone and take down the contact details of her latest call." The forensic scientist nodded and left.

Celia turned and made her way over to Isabella's car. She stopped in front of the exposed front seat and did a scan. Isabella hadn't crashed through the windshield meaning she'd been wearing a seatbelt. It was quite possible that the women had fallen asleep at the wheel, and it would make the most sense. But Celia wasn't entirely sure. It all seemed a bit too clean for Gotham city.

Celia lent down and pressed the petal for the exhilaration, feeling the familiar pull signifying it was working. She then did the same for the brakes, though it didn't have a pull. Interesting. "Neita!" A voice called, and Celia shot up, banging her head on the top of the car. She bit her tongue to hold in a curse and hiss, instead, gripping her head with her hand, trying to rub away the bump. She turned to see Detective Hardner had called her. "Wrap it up, we're leaving."

Celia frowned. "But the crime scene hasn't been completely processed?" Detective Hardner glared at her.

"This isn't a crime scene. We were sent to determine if it was and it clearly isn't. Now let's go. It's late, and I want to go home." Celia opened her mouth to argue with the detective but then thought better off it. She didn't need Detective Hardner to have more reasons to hate her. With one last look at the car, Celia reluctantly followed the detective to his car. She'd have to find a way to check the car out later. There was something up with the brakes.

**~~~**

"Dr Neita?" A slightly shaky but familiar voice called, and Celia looked up from her microscope to see a red-eyed Edward Nygma standing in her doorway. He looked utterly destroyed.

"Mr Nygma! I'm sorry, I didn't hear you knock." She got up from her place at the table as Mr Nygma walked over, shaking his head.

"I didn't knock." Celia nodded. She wouldn't have known even if he had. He came to stand in front of her, staring down at her. Looking completely heartbroken. Celia felt sadness for the poor man. He probably was.

"Was there something you needed, Mr Nygma?" Celia asked gently when the silence between them went on for too long. She knew what he'd come for but wanted him to approach the subject. To make him feel more in control than he was probably feeling. Mr Nygma nodded.

"I looked at the crash file and saw your name," Celia found is strange that the man automatically assumed she knew what he was talking about. She didn't find the fact the chief of staff had checked out Isabella's file strange at all. Celia had always assumed the man was a little paranoid. "I was wondering if the scene had been as straight forward as the file had said? Had she really fallen asleep at the wheel?" Celia took in the dishevelled man before her and wondered if she should seriously tell him what she found.

She'd gone to the warehouse where they'd stored Isabella's car early that morning to figure out the problem with the brakes and had discovered the brake lines had been cut. She was going to tell Captain Barnes about it, but the man was missing, and everyone else she trusted in the GCPD was too busy to looking for him, so she'd hadn't had the chance to tell anyone that Isabella's death hadn't been an accident.

 _"You should tell him."_ 'N's voice sounded and Celia resisted the urge to stiffen. _"He'd be so grateful."_ Celia didn't let her eyes track 'N's movement as she came to stand next to Mr Nygma, peering at him with dangerous curiosity. _"But you should make him work for it. Edward Nygma is a man of riddles after all."_ 'N' turned to look at her. _"And you do love a good puzzle."_

That was true. And it would probably give him something to work towards. What would come of it, Celia couldn't say, but letting the man discover the method behind his love's death would not only mean some form of closure for him but get rid of this burden of knowledge for her. Slightly selfish, yes but Celia was willing to be selfish if it meant Mr Nygma could find closure. In his own way.

"I'm not at liberty to say Isabella hadn't fallen asleep at the wheel. I'm not a medical examiner or detective, and that is just a theory." Officer Clay knocked on her door, interrupting her. She looked at him expectedly.

"Dr Thompkins is looking for you." Celia nodded towards the man.

"I'll be right there." He nodded, then left. Celia turned to look back at Mr Nygma. He somehow looked more broken than before.

"So you can't tell me anything?" Celia looked up at the poor man, a curious look on her face.

"I didn't say that," She walked past the man, feeling his eyes follow her, confusion probably in them, and stopped at the door. "You can use me to stop. You take me to smoke; Not only do I stop, But I am a stop. And the result of pool's first stroke. What am I?" She saw surprise wash over Mr Nygma's face, and she smiled at him before walking out of the forensic lab. That should be enough to pique his curiosity. She just hoped he didn't take too long to solve it.

**~~~**

Celia watched as they dragged Captain Barnes away, pity swelling in her as the man struggled against the grips of four officers, screaming guilty over and over again. Now she understood the danger behind the Tetch virus. It made people give in to their darkest desires—Celia sort of understood.

 _"Now that's crazy."_ 'N' said from her place next to Celia, who hummed in agreement. 'N' had yet to leave after popping up during her conversation with Mr Nygma a few hours ago. She hadn't said much, just the usual taunting and dark remarks Celia had long since gotten used too since her stay in Gotham started. _"And where do crazy people go?"_ 'N' whispered in her ear and Celia glanced at her but chose not to answer. She was surrounded by cops that had just seen their captain be taken away. They didn't need more crazy thrown at them.

"Attention everyone!" Detective Hardner's voice called, and Celia looked up from the file she was reading. "Could I have everyone's attention?" Soon, every police officer was looking at Detective Hardner. Most of them looked bored or pissed off. Celia couldn't blame them. The man chose a hell of a time to make an announcement. "I'm sorry to interrupt your work, but there is one more arrest that has to be made today."

Celia watched as Jim walked up to Detective Hardner, a dangerous look on his face. "What is this about, Hardner?" The man asked, a strange tone to his voice. The man smirked at Jim, a look that Celia wanted to slap away, and put his hand on Jim's shoulder.

"It's about the law. It's about doing what's right," He said firmly. He took his hand away from Jim's shoulder and directed his gaze straight at Celia. Celia stood up, feeling dread race down her back. He smiled sickeningly at her.

"Celia Neita, you are under arrest for the murder of Shane Fowler."

Celia dropped the file she was holding in shock. She was under arrest? But nearly everyone had told her that she'd done nothing wrong, that it hadn't been murder because she'd done it in self-defence.

Celia felt two pairs of rough hands grab her arms harshly, forcing them behind her back, and she did her best to resist her urge to struggle. A pair of cuffs were thrown onto her wrists, tightening, so they almost cut off her blood flow. Almost. A familiar manic laugh entered her ears, and she turned to see 'N' was laughing her head off. She couldn't understand why her dark reflection thought it was funny considering she was also, technically, under arrest.

"Hardner! What is the meaning of this?" Harvey asked, coming to stand in front of Celia, blocking her from Detective Hardner's view.

"What do you mean, detective? I am merely arresting a murder. I thought that was part of our job." He sounded innocence, but the smug look on his face said otherwise to everyone in the room.

"Celia did not murder Shane Fowler! She did it in self-defence." Celia heard Lee cry before she was suddenly standing next to Harvey. Defending her. It sent a wave of guilt down Celia's spine. She didn't feel worthy of her faith. Detective Hardner scoffed.

"Really? Because I did some digging. Found a witness that claimed he saw the whole shooting. Said, Dr Neita here, shot Mr Fowler after he'd begged for his life. Apparently, she'd even laughed about it." That was clearly a lie. Fowler hadn't said anything once she'd pulled the gun. There hadn't been time. She couldn't deny the laughing part, though. The real meaning behind Detective Hardner's words hit her and Celia frowned. A witness? Her mind quickly flashed back to that night.

She didn't remember seeing anyone else around. Yes, she'd been distracted by the man about to rape her, but she'd done a look around by instruction of Leah after she'd called her and found no one. There had been a few homeless people, but they'd been too far away to have heard what happened. There was the homeless man she'd seen before Fowler had grabbed her, but he'd been gone by the time Celia had shot her attacker. So either Detective Hardner was lying, or Celia hadn't been as alone as she'd thought.

Jim's voice sounded, bring her back to what was happening. "What's the witness's name?" He asked, tone hard and serious. Detective Hardner just smirked at him.

"He wishes to remain anonymous." Meaning the chances he existed was slim. "However, I did record his statement. You know, in case there was any doubt." Detective Hardner directed his smirk towards her. Celia did her best not to sneer at the man.

"One anonymous witness isn't enough to claim Celia kill Fowler in cold blood. Not with so much evidence claiming otherwise." Lee countered, and Detective Hardner looked at her, annoyance on his face. The man really did have respect issues when it came to women.

"You did the autopsy, right? Said the bullet went straight through the aorta, tearing it apart. Anybody with common sense knows that kills someone almost instantly." Lee glared hard at Detective Hardner, not backing down.

"Celia reacted on instinct. Flight or fight. She pulled out her gun and put into his stomach. It was just chance the bullet lined up with the aorta." Lee said, sounding confident in her argument. Celia knew it was pointless. Detective Hardner had already had two police officer cuff her. He clearly had authority from someone. This counteracting evidence talk was just to prove how clever he'd been.

"Miss Neita has excellent knowledge of human anatomy, far beyond the normal forensic scientist. She has a PhD in biology. She can identify the shape of a weapon based on the breakage pattern on a bone. You're seriously telling me she doesn't know the location of every artery on the human body?" Detective Hardner asked, and Lee couldn't come up with a response.

Because there was none. Detective Hardner was right. Celia did know the location of every artery on the human body. Knew how long it would take for someone to die depending on which artery was breached. Just like she knew the minute she'd pulled the trigger and released that bullet into Fowler, he would die. And she'd done it anyway. She'd killed Fowler and didn't feel guilty about it. This fight for her innocence was pointless. Because she wasn't.

 _"No, you aren't."_ 'N' sounded, and suddenly she was in front of her. Celia didn't even stiffen. Because her darker self was right. _"But there is nothing wrong with that."_ 'N' continued and Celia averted her eyes. _"There is nothing wrong with being a murder."_ Celia closed her eyes. She didn't need to hear this now. Not now. _"There is so much fun to be found in being bad!"_

"Enough!" She yelled, talking to both 'N' and the detectives arguing in front of her. N smirked while the detectives looked confused. Celia sighed. "This argument is pointless," She said towards the Jim, Harvey and Lee. The only people in the GCPD she could consider friends. She then turned towards Detective Hardner, who looked unbelievably smug. "You've clearly spent a lot of time collecting evidence against me."

Detective Hardner laughed. "Not really. It's just too easy in this city." Celia frowned. The man was probably referring to forging evidence but his statement related to every aspect of Gotham. It was too easy to do anything bad in the city, even when you didn't actually live in it.

"Too easy to do what?" Jim asked, but Detective Hardner and Celia ignored him. The fight for Celia's innocence was over, and nothing the morally good cop did would help. She was going to jail, no matter what.

"Where am I to be incarcerated?" Celia asked, tone even, hiding just how nervous she truly was. Detective Hardner went back to smirking. She was getting really sick of seeing that look on his face.

"Oh, you'll love it. The place is a real gem," Which meant it was horrible. Celia's mind went over all the prisons in Gotham and their reputations, landing on one that would fit Detective Hardner's unusual need for revenge. Her blood went cold at the thought. "Arkham Asylum."

'N's laugher filled Celia's ears as she felt genuine fear run through her at those words. Arkham Asylum. The place where the criminally insane sleep. Detective Hardner gestured to his men to take Celia away. Celia was too shocked to fight or properly register the movement. She was going to Arkham. It felt like a nightmare. 'N's laughter grew louder in her head as Celia was lead out of the GCPD and away from her freedom, from her life...


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edward Nygma visits GCPD looking for Celia and discovers her imprisonment. Celia gets a visitor at Arkham and discovers someone she never wished to see again works at the Asylum.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to point out ant mistakes.

No matter how many times he came back to the GCPD, it was always the same. Police officers were rushing about, booking criminals, looking for and following up on leads, answering phone calls about newly committed crimes. It satisfied him in a way. Crime in Gotham never stopped, no matter what tragedies hit the GCPD.

Ed made his way down the steps, ignoring any of the quick but dirty looks he got from any police officers that past. It would seem their distaste for him never stopped as well. He glanced up at the captain's office to see it vacant and couldn't help his smile. He'd heard about Captain Barnes' fall from grace. How he'd been infected with the Tetch virus and decided to forego the whole legal system and just kill criminals. Being chief of staff to a mayor who was also the kingpin of the criminal underworld meant you heard about this kind of stuff.

Ed let his legs lead him up the stairs towards the forensic lab, the path still so familiar. Though he didn't come to the lab to look for clues anymore. He passed the medical examiner's room and faulted in his stride. He knew her body was no longer in there. It had been sent to the funeral home in preparation for a funeral. When it was, Ed couldn't say. He didn't know Isabella's family. Not enough to grieve with them.

Shaking his head, Ed continued on his path. He didn't doubt that he had a different method of grieving to them anyway. Reaching the forensic lab door, Edward knocked and wasn't really surprised when he didn't get a response. From what he'd seen, it was quite common for the forensic scientist to get lost in her own world. He waited for a few more seconds before opening the door.

Only to find Dr Neita not present. Ed frowned. He wasn't really in a place to say it was odd to see her not there. He didn't visit the GCPD nearly enough to know where Dr Neita would usually hang out, but from what he'd seen of her work ethic, the forensic lab was the most logical assumption. He glanced at his watch. 10:23 am. She clearly wasn't on her lunch break then. Ed spun on his heel, making his way back to the first floor. He'd have to ask Harvey about it.

Ed would be lying if he said Celia Neita didn't intrigue him. The forensic scientist was strange. Not in a socially incompetent way. In fact, she seemed to be quite good at social interaction that Ed kind of envied her. She'd gotten the GCPD to like her in a way he'd never achieved in a matter of weeks. She'd gotten Oswald to like her, even after she'd told him he was being hunted by a deranged, cannibalistic killer. He found it fascinating. No, her strangeness was something normal people wouldn't notice. Something an intelligent person like himself did.

She was always on guard. Not in the way police officers were always on guard, looking for people who could potentially hurt them. No, she was always cautious of how many people were around. He hadn't seen it the first time he'd talked to her. They'd been mostly alone, tucked away in an exposed area of the police station. No one could hear them, but they could still see them. The other times he'd seen her, it had been more evident. Her eyes would trace the room sometimes, skimming over everyone present. It was an interesting habit.

There were also times when she'd suddenly become extremely tense. One second she was fine and relax then the next she'd look like she wanted to bolt, be miles away from where she currently was. He'd seen it happen when they were discussing Shane Fowler's death and again when she'd been examining the burn victim. One minute she was fine, the next she was finding an excuse to leave the room. It was odd.

The woman also didn't like to draw attention to herself if she could help it. Though, most of the time it'd didn't work since she seemed to have a habit of showing off her intelligence. A habit she was clearly unaware of. He'd seen her do it with the burn victim she'd examined. After Detective Hardner had unsubtly insulted her, she'd practically given him the finger by cracking the case then and there. In a matter of minutes. Regardless of the fact that the man hadn't actually been present.

Edward had been incredibly impressed. He wouldn't be surprised if she was a better forensic scientist then he was. A much better detective then those she worked with at least. Though she denied being one. It was clear she used her superior intelligence to learn everything she could about crime and how it worked, being able to analysis not only a criminal's killing style but their mindset and the victim's mindset as well after just a few minutes at a crime scene. Discovering Cooper Tran's identity by retracing his steps was the best example. Ed wished he'd been there to see it.

Ed reached the bottom of the stairs and spotted Harvey, quickly making his way over. The man was on the phone. And looked pissed off. Ed would have to be careful. He approached the detective, coughing to make himself known. Harvey looked at him and rolled his eyes. "What do you want, Nygma?" He asked, tone distrustful as always. Ed smiled.

"Do you know where Dr Neita is? I wish to talk to her about a case." He said, tone even. He wasn't lying. He did really want to talk to Dr Neita about a case, just not one that probably came to Harvey's mind. Harvey froze, a pained expression overtaking his face. Oh no. He glanced at Ed then sighed, removing the phone from his ear.

"Celia is currently locked up in Arkham Asylum", Harvey muttered. Ed felt shock and confusion wash over him. Dr Neita was in Arkham? That couldn't be right.

"What?" He asked, more out of shock than needing to hear it again. Harvey didn't pick up on it.

"I said she's in Arkham!" He yelled, and Ed straightened. The tone sent him back to days when Harvey use to ridicule him. Back when he was still Edward Nygma, the annoying forensic scientist who liked riddles. Well, he wasn't that man anymore. Now, he was Oswald's chief of staff, on his way to becoming a criminal mastermind. Ed forced himself to relax.

"Why would Dr Neita be in Arkham? She's not a criminal." Ed was sure of that. The woman may have killed Shane Fowler, but that had been in self-defence. And while it was true, she hadn't seemed that tore up about it, seeming to get over it a few days later that was sort of true for most self-defence killings. Besides, the man had deserved it. The back-stabbing, serial rapist he was. Harvey looked like he wanted to shoot someone.

"Detective Hardner, the bastard, managed to find evidence that suggested she'd killed Shane Fowler in cold blood. Apparently, it had been enough to convince a judge." Ed frowned.

"But we'd pressed no charges against Dr Neita for that, and neither had Fowler's family." In fact, Fowler's wife had seemed absolutely fine with his death. Harvey shrugged and picked the phone up.

"Like that matters in this city." He put the phone back to his ear, signalling the end of the discussion. Ed frowned but complied, leaving Harvey alone and making his way to the entrance. He had no reason to be here if Dr Neita wasn't.

He didn't doubt that Detective Hardner had broken the law to get Dr Neita thrown into Arkham. No judge would send Dr Neita to Arkham for the killing of Shane Fowler if they hadn't been paid off, especially if they'd seen the injuries Dr Neita had sustain during the attack. The bruising from when Fowler had gripped her throat had still been present a few days later when she'd gone to city hall. Ed would have to do some digging once he'd gotten revenge for Isabella's death. For now, he'd have to pay Arkham a visit.

**~~~**

_"You should go say hi."_ 'N' sounded but Celia didn't look up from the book she was reading

"No." She heard 'N' huff.

 _"Friends in a place like this are good."_ Celia looked up from her book to make eye contact with 'N'.

"I have a friend." 'N' glared at her.

 _"I'm not your friend."_ She spat, and Celia smiled, looking back down at the book she'd read three times since her stay in Arkham had started. It was all about puzzles, and Celia was aiming to memorise it word for word.

"Like they know that." 'N' huffed again but didn't respond. Celia went back to reading. It had been a few days since she'd officially become an inmate at Arkham and the asylum was worse off than Celia had first thought.

The first thing Celia had learnt was that the guards didn't give a damn about you. Whether you were a boy or a girl, whether you'd kill one person or twenty, all the inmates were the same in their eyes. Criminal scum who'd gotten what they deserved. It meant they felt entitled to do what they wanted to the inmates. Celia had been slapped the first day when she'd asked about the program. Her cheek still had the bruise.

The doctors and nurses weren't that much better. While they were kinder to the inmates as that was kind of their job, they weren't very good at the rehabilitation part. Celia's doctor was rather timid and gullible. She'd been able to convince the woman in a matter of minutes that she suffered from anger issues and truly felt remorse for her actions which manifested as a 'ghost'. 'N' had laughed and called her manipulative, and Celia couldn't really disagree with her. It meant she only had to have sessions twice a week though so Celia couldn't bring herself to feel bad about it.

The second thing she'd learnt was the crazier you seemed, the better off you were. A few of the other inmates in here were like her. Had committed a single, terrible murder and Gotham's terrible justice system had put them in here. They were the people who were bullied the most. They were dominated by the crazier, scarier inmates and forced to be underlings. They were the lowest in the power food chain. Celia didn't really want to be that.

So when a big, muscle guy had walked up to Celia, a familiar, predatory look in his eyes, she'd turned to 'N' and asked her the best method for killing the man. With joy, 'N' had responded eagerly, suggesting Celia give her control so she could cut off his genitals and open up every artery. When Celia had relayed the plan to 'N' then looked back at the tall man, he'd gone white as a sheet and made a quick exit. Celia had found it incredibly easy to fake being crazy which she found sort of concerning but Celia had remained unbothered by the other inmates since so she didn't think about it too much.

The third thing she'd learnt was that 'N' was now her shadow. Her darker reflection had yet to leave her alone since she'd arrived at Arkham. She was always around. Most of the time, she engaged Celia in conversation. The topics were always dark, relating to murder, crime, the other inmates but it gave Celia something to discuss so she responded and humoured 'N' most of the time. Other times, 'N' would just watch. Her, other inmates, the doctors. Like she was waiting for something. It was odd, but Celia didn't question it. She'd only get a vague answer if she did.

 _"Do you think Leah knows?"_ The question shocked Celia, and she looked up to see 'N' staring off into deep space, a strange look on her face. _"That you're in Arkham?"_ Celia lowered her gaze.

"I hope so." Lee, Jim and Harvey had promised to find a way to get her out of Arkham, and she didn't doubt they would try. However, Gotham was a city of constant crime, meaning bad things were always happening, and they had more important matters to attend to.

Plus, they'd have to have Celia declared sane in order to get her out of Arkham, and that could take months, especially in a place like Gotham. Leah would be able to focus almost all of her attention on getting Celia out of Arkham and Celia didn't doubt she would. She'd probably get Daphne to help. But Leah was in the same boat as the GCPD, it would take months to get her out of here. So, whether or not Leah knew, Celia had to prepare herself for some of the worst months of her life.

Celia looked back at 'N' "Why? Do you miss her?" 'N' scoffed.

 _"No, I couldn't care less about your little cop buddy,"_ Celia believed 'N' on that matter. _"But she is one of the few people who could get us out of here."_ Celia raised her eyebrow.

"You want to get out of here? Why? I'd thought you'd be right at home among all the other inmates." 'N' sent her an icy glare. She was glad at times like this that 'N' couldn't actually hurt her. She could take over her hand, but she'd only hurt herself in the end.

 _"I can't have much fun once I take you over if I'm stuck in here now, can I?"_ Celia couldn't argue with that. Celia did a quick glance around. She didn't doubt the fact that if she put in enough brainpower, she could probably think of a few methods of escape. Those times she'd spent studying prison breakouts suddenly seemed useful in a whole different way. She shook her head.

No, that was 'N' talking. Celia wasn't stupid enough to attempt a prison break out. At least not in a city she's not familiar with. Antagan was a whole other story.

Celia felt like slapping herself.

A few days in Arkham and she was already thinking like a criminal mastermind. God, the next few months were going to be hell on her physic. She didn't doubt she'd been seeing the world differently if she ever got out. Though she was afraid of how different her view would be.

A bang on the bars behind her snapped her out of her thoughts, and she jumped slightly, turning to see a guard glaring at her through the bars. "You got a visitor, scum." He said gruffly. Celia frowned. A visitor? It hadn't been long enough for Leah to find time to come to Gotham, not with Chin on the loose. Celia put down her book and got up, ignoring the eyes that followed her. She had conversations with herself every day now, only half of which were heard by the other inmates, so staring was a given.

The guard opened the door and let her out of the monitored dining room. She smiled at him, but he only glared back. She was going to make a least one of these guards like her. That was her goal for the month. The man led her down a hallway, and Celia's eyes scanned everything. Just for something to do, not for future reference. She was not going to break out of Arkham. She watched as the guard pulled a pair of keys connected to a retractable string off his belt and unlocked a door.

Smart. So many criminals were good a pickpocketing. Celia was among them. She used to steal Leah's badge off her when they'd first met. Leah had found it amusing every time. She'd stopped when the captain had yelled at her about it. The guard unlocked another door, locking it behind him and led her to a secluded room that looked more like a cage. A figure was sitting down at the table inside. The guard unlocked the room to the door and shoved her in before locking the door again.

She looked back at the figure to see a familiar pair of eyes covered by glasses looking at her, a curious and concern gleam in them. "Mr Nygma." Celia was truly surprised to see the man. She had assumed he'd learn of her imprisonment quite quickly since he was Mayor Cobblepot's chief of staff, but she hadn't expected the man to be her first visitor. He smiled at her.

"Dr Neita. I'm glad to see you're looking okay." Celia smiled at the man and nodded.

"Celia is fine. I don't really have a job anymore." She laughed but decided not to sit down. The steel chairs didn't look very comfortable. Mr Nygma noticed because he stood up and made his way around the table to stand in front of her, looking down. Celia had never realised the height difference between them before. He wasn't horrible taller than her, but she still had to look up at him.

"Then you're welcome to call me Ed," Celia nodded at the man. She'd heard Mayor Cobblepot call him Ed. "I heard what happened, I'm sorry. I didn't expect someone to keep digging after nobody pressed charges." Celia looked away from the man, out the window.

"Neither did I." It was true. She hadn't expected Detective Hardner to develop such distaste for her in such a short amount of time that he'd get her locked away in Arkham. She still had no idea why he hated her. Sighing, she looked back at Ed. "Was there something you needed?" She highly doubted Edward Nygma had visited her just to say hello and see how she was doing.

"I wanted to thank you." Celia frowned. What had she done? "For the riddle. The answer being brakes. It was beneficial." Oh, he was referring to Isabella's death. She'd been so focused on her sentence to Arkham she'd neglected to think about the cases she'd been working on. Hopefully, the GCPD didn't have any trouble reassigning them.

"You're welcome. I'm sorry I didn't tell you outright, but Officer Clay had been in the room, and I wasn't even on the case since it had been declared an accident so I shouldn't have even been looking." Celia admitted. Ed shook his head.

"Don't be. I'm glad you looked. It was a helpful clue. Besides, I think I know who did it." Celia looked at the man. He knew who killed Isabella? "Butch Gilzean." He stated, sounding very proud of himself. Celia blinked. Was she supposed to know who that was? Ed seemed to realise she had no idea who he was talking about because he rushed to clarify himself. "He used to be Oswald right-hand man before he tried to have him killed. The Red Hood Investigation." Celia nodded.

Of course, she'd heard about that. She'd been too busy catching the Burn-blade killer to really look into the investigation though. "Well that's good. Are you gonna have him arrested?" She asked and a strange look passed over Ed's face. It took him a while to answer her.

"Well, no. Isabella's death hadn't been declared a murder, so there is nothing to arrest him for." Celia nodded. There was clearly more to it, and Celia wanted to push the man for it but decided against it. She and Ed shared a professional relationship, even if they were calling each other by their first names. She wasn't in a position to know his plan for revenge. She didn't doubt the man had one. "But I am going to have him punished." He continued, and Celia resisted her smiled. Totally called it.

 _"He'll probably kill the man,"_ 'N' offered and Celia glanced at her. She was sitting crossed leg on the table, looking bored. _"He is a murder."_ Celia looked back up at Ed, her mind flashing to how broken he'd looked when he'd discovered Isabella's death. 'N's claim was probably true.

"Well, I'm sure whatever you do, you'll do it right", Celia said, being careful to make it sound like she wasn't disappointed in him. It was easy since she wasn't. "You are a forensic scientist." A strange look past though Ed's eyes but he nodded his head.

"And I'm sure you'll get through this. I was in Arkham, and I'm fine." Celia did her upmost best not to laugh at that statement. It was a bit ironic coming from a man who'd basically just admitted he was about to go and torture someone. "I am born in fear, raised in truth, and I come to my own in deed. When comes a time that I'm called forth, I come to serve the cause of need. What am I?" With that, Ed nodded his head and left.

Only when the man had left her sight did Celia smiled. Courage.

**~~~**

_"This place is really boring."_ 'N' stated later in Celia's cell. Celia rolled her eyes, turning the page. Her stay in Arkham had allowed her to discover just how whiney her subconscious could be. Yes, 'N' liked to drop in and torment Celia but she never whined. She complained, but she never whined. Celia figured the personality change was due to her own boredom. 'N' was a manifestation of a part of her subconscious after all. She may act like another entity entirely, but it was all in Celia's mind. As is the case with multiple personalities.

Celia closed her eyes. It had been a long time since Celia had been bored enough to psycho-analysis her mental health problems. She really was going to hate it here. A distance and sudden loud scream caused Celia to open her eyes back up. She lowered her book, waiting for the scream to occur again. It didn't. Celia frowned. "Now that's strange."

'N' hummed in agreement. Celia had come to accept that screaming and yelling was just background noise in Arkham. It was a constant and never really stopped. It just got quieter during the day. Celia had managed to classify it as white-noise in the past few days she'd lived here, allowing her to not be too bothered by it. But every now and then, a loud and unnatural scream would occur. She'd been told it was the shock therapy. Only shock therapy didn't occur at night-time.

Celia closed her book, placing it on her bed before getting up and wondering to the caged square the designer of Arkham had decided to call a window. She glanced out and saw the familiar sight of a guard guarding the entrance door to this section of cells. It was the same guard from the previous nights.

Celia had yet to get more than a few hours of sleep in Arkham, so instead, she spent her nights reading her book or watching the guards. Celia wished it would become routine. She knew the minute she's got a good night sleep with the sounds of the insane around her, she could never be Celia Neita, brilliant forensic scientist again. Though, she probably stopped being that woman was minute, she was sentenced to Arkham Asylum.

From her position, she doubted the guard could see her watching him. He continued staring off into space for a good long while, hand resting comfortably against his baton. Celia was just about to go back to bed to continue reading when the guard moved, his walkie talker coming to life as he removed it from his belt. Celia could only hear gable from the walkie talkie.

"Understood. I'm standing by," The guard said, responding to what was most likely an inquiry. His words suggested someone was coming to visit one of the inmates in her hall. If that was the case, then they were coming to visit her as she was the only one occupying the several cells. "No. The subject is secure and awake." The guard responded, throwing a quick glance at Celia's door. So he knew she was awake. He must have heard her get up then. Or talk to 'N'. The doors weren't exactly sound-proof.

Celia frowned. The only people who would possibly visit her this late at night were doctors and nurses. Celia wasn't injured in any way, the cuts from her attack had just about finished healing, and she no longer had any bruises. Her wrist was all good as well. Her therapist wouldn't be coming to visit her, either. The woman was a new employee and inexperienced and had no reason to visit her. Besides she'd didn't have another session for a few days.

The sound of the iron door opening brought Celia back, and she watched as three guards dressed in all black and carrying big guns walked through the door. They were all big and muscular men who looked like they could take several bullets and still keep fighting. They clearly didn't work at Arkham. It made Celia nervous. A figure entered behind the three guards, keeping themselves hidden. The lead guard stepped aside to reveal who'd followed in behind him and Celia felt her blood run cold, eyes widen as a sick feeling entered her stomach.

"No." She heard herself mutter as the man she detested and feared more than anyone else raised his head. Dr Dylan Chin made eye contact with her, his grey eyes singing with promises of cruelty as a sickening grin made its way onto his face. Celia had assumed there was a reason Detective Hardner had sent her to Arkham and know she knew and it was worse than anything she could have ever guessed…


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A month passes as Dr Chin starts experimenting with Celia mentally, trying to get her to break so he can meet 'N'.

She watched as the deranged man tilted his head, his smile growing wider as he took in Celia. As he took in his next test subject. His next experiment. Because that was what the man was here to do. Experiment on Celia. It's all he's ever wanted to do since the very first time Celia had foiled his plan. Back when she'd first started working at the ACPD. Celia swallowed as Chin gestured to his guards to open her door.

She should have guessed it was his doing all along. The unnecessary imprisonment in Arkham, the unusual hatred Detective Hardner had towards her, the continuous reasons Celia had to prolong her stay in Gotham. She wouldn't be surprised if the man orchestrated her whole need to come to Gotham. The man definitely had the genius to do it. And the compulsive need to pull off something so perfect.

Thinking back, Celia should have released something was up the minute she'd heard of Chin's prison break. To happen the day after she'd just killed someone and would be stuck in Gotham for the impending investigation, unable to come back to Antagan and track him down. It was too convent to be pure chance. He probably hired Shane Fowler to attack her, assuming she would do something to the man. It was the typical and brilliant pre-planning she associated with Chin.

He'd probably orchestrated some of the crime scene's Celia had been assigned to work on for her Gotham stay. As a way to keep her busy. Burn-blade, Cooper Tran and the cannibalistic killer would be her best guess. They had the kind of dramatic flair of Dylan Chin. The incidents involving Jervis Tetch, Captain Barnes and Isabella were too disconnected from Celia to have been organised by Chin.

She watched as the front guard walked up to the door and unlocked it. He gestured for Celia to step back and she did, keeping her glare firmly fixated on Chin who was just looking at her in that cruel, scientific way he always did. _"This isn't good,"_ 'N' stated, whispering in Celia's ear. _"He no doubts has some horrible experiment in store for you. You should have taken his escape more seriously."_ Celia really should have. 'N' will hold this over her for the rest of her life.

The metal door to her cell swung open, and Celia stood up straighter as Chin walked towards her, slowly, as if savouring the moment. He probably was. _"You should kill him."_ 'N' stated. Celia held in her huff. She wanted to, oh god, did she want to kill him. But she couldn't. The only lethal thing she had on her was her glasses and she kind of needed those to see properly. She could knock him out with her book, but the man had come with three massive guards carrying big guns full of lots of bullets. Celia had some knowledge of hand-to-hand combat, but she wasn't that good. She wouldn't get very far.

Chin stopped in the doorway, observing her the way a predator observes their prey. With hunger and deadly intent. "Miss Celia," He said, voice smooth like always. Very unfitting for such a mad and ruthless man. He chuckled. "It is good to see you again. It's been too long."

Celia let out a humourless chuckle. "Not long enough." She stated, not even trying to hide her anger and disdain for the man. He hummed and did a quick look around the room.

"Is she here?" He asked, and Celia clenched her fists to stop herself from clawing his eyes out. That was another reason she hated Chin. His knowledge and fascination for 'N'. The man wanted nothing more than to meet her darker side for himself. But Celia knew that would end in disaster.

 _"You should let him ask for himself."_ 'N' whispered to her. 'N's hatred for Chin was more intense than her own since she represented all her darkest desires. 'N' would try to kill the man with no regard for her own life and Celia liked living. A lot. So she couldn't have that.

Chin chuckled. "What am I asking? Of course, she's here. She's always here. Tell her, I say hi." Chin said, and Celia really wanted to go over and punched the guy. Then stab him. Then shoot him. Several times. Then feed his corpse to a bunch of wild dogs.

 _"Tell him I said to join daddy in hell!"_ 'N' spat and Celia cringed. Now there was an image she didn't need in her head. Ever.

"She says hi back", Celia said instead, tone dripping with sarcasm. Chin chuckled again and began making his way into her cell and towards her, hand in one of his pockets. Celia resisted the urge to back up. She would stand her ground, no matter what the bastard did.

"You know, I've waited a long time for this." The man said, coming to stand in front of Celia. He was just a tad bit taller than her. But she could still head butt him with no problems. Celia sneered at him.

"I bet you have." She growled, and Chin laughed once again before his lips turned into a menacing smiled and he pulled something from his pocket, grabbing her neck and plugging it into the side in a few short seconds. Celia gasped and cried out in pain, punching Chin square in the nose, causing the man to withdraw the object and stumble away. Celia heard his guards move.

"No!" Chin yelled, raising his hand to stop them. Celia put a hand to her neck where he'd plugged the object, feeling three little puncture wounds dripping blood. That wasn't good. Suddenly her vision began to get a little blurry, and her legs began to feel like jelly. Chin had drugged her with some kind of sedative. It was fast-acting, meaning she probably only had another 15 seconds.

She watched as Chin wiped a hand under his nose, smiling at the blood he saw on his hand. He then looked at Celia, watching her stumble. He laughed and walked towards her, that sick smile still present. Then he raised his knuckle, and Celia felt pain erupted in her cheek as the force of his punch sent her tumbling to the ground, glasses flying off. She looked up at very blurry Chin, very much in a daze, and watched him crouched down in front of her "Goodnight, Miss Celia. Sweet dreams."

Then everything went black.

**~~~**

The first thing Celia noticed when she came to was the horrible throbbing pain in her head and the sharp ringing in her ears. It was similar to hangover pain but so much worse. Her eyes felt heavy, much heavier than if she was waking up from a night on the town. So, she hadn't been drinking then. A sharp pain shot through her neck and Celia groaned. Yeah, she definitely hadn't been drinking.

The ringing in her ears died down, and proper sound returned to her ears. There was a beeping that sounded like a heartbeat, the shuffling of feet and the distance murmuring of talking. Was she in a hospital? Celia opened her eyes. Or tried to. The light right above her was blinding, causing her to immediately shut them again. Yeah, not a hospital. The light was too bright and close for a hospital. After waiting a few more seconds for the fuzziness to clear, Celia tried opening her eyes again, though much more slowly.

Everything was a bit blurry, so she wasn't wearing her glasses, but she seemed to be in what looked to be a small, surgical room. The bright light was coming from a lamp standing next to her. The walls were made of brick and painted grey. There was all kind of equipment around the room, some of which sort of looked to be medical. There was also what appeared to be a security camera in the far corner of the room, directed right at her so it would record everything she did.

Celia made to move her hand but couldn't. She tried again and realised her hand was in restraints. In fact, all her limps were in restraints. Okay, something was definitely wrong. She struggled against the restraints again, but they were tied too tightly that she almost gave herself a burn. She turned her head side-to-side, trying to see if anyone else was in the room, but the shuffling from before had disappeared. Then someone clapping entered the room.

"Perfect. I was wondering when you'd wake up," An all too familiar voice sounded, and Celia watched as a blurry Dylan Chin entered her version. He looked to be dressed up for an experiment, lab coat on and goggles ready. "I didn't want to start without you." He said, smiling down at her with dark joy and malice. That was when it all came back.

Celia had been admitted to Arkham Asylum after Detective Hardner had arrested her for killing Shane Fowler in cold blood. Dylan Chin had escaped prison and, for some reason or another, worked at Arkham Asylum and had come to visit her last night. He'd drugged and knocked her out. Celia fixed the mad doctor with a cold glare. "She remembers," He laughed, though it was a horrible sound, "Guess those rebellious years paid off. That was a pretty strong sedative."

"What do you want?" She sneered at him, and he smirked, snapping his fingers together. A younger scientist walked in and handed him a file before quickly making her leave but not before flashing Chin smile. He completely ignored her. The way she'd bowed her head at Chin made it seem like she worshipped him. Looks like he didn't end up killing that psychiatrist after all. He opened the file.

"Celia Neita. Gender: Female, Age: 28," Chin started, making his way around the table as he read off her file. Probably one he'd made. "Born in Antagan City. At age 5, your parents committed a joint suicided and tried to take you with them but failed. You were placed in the foster system, coming into the care of Mr and Mrs Roddy at age 9 and staying until you were 18." He closed the file and threw it onto the table. "Quite a mundane and boring childhood."

Celia scoffed. Celia didn't like to think about her childhood. It had been anything but mundane. The Roddy's had been anything but mundane. Mr Roddy had been a demon in disguise, and Mrs Roddy had been one of his victims, broken beyond repair. Celia was very fortunate to have left their care as a functioning adult. The only one to have left their care. "What does my childhood have to do with what you want?"

Chin smiled darkly down at her. "During the first week of your stay at The Roddy Household, a man broke in and tried robbed the place. During dinner no less. The police found him dead in the creek the next morning. Broken neck. They placed the blame on Mr Roddy and arrested him but couldn't convict him," Celia tensed. She remembered that break in all too well. Chin leaned down, "There hadn't been enough evidence."

Celia gritted her teeth. "What. Do. You. Want?" She asked, and Chin laughed.

"To understand! Understand how something like 'N' came into being. I want to understand and study her." He said, tracing a finger down the side of the operating table she was strapped to. Celia swallowed. It always came back to 'N'. "I want to meet her." Celia closed her eyes. Nobody should ever want to meet 'N'. They should be grateful they haven't.

 _"I want to meet him too."_ 'N's voice sounded, and Celia opened her eyes to see herself standing on the other side of the table, peering down at her. _"Let him study me. Up close."_ Celia glared at herself. Yeah, that wasn't happening. Ever. Celia took in a deep breath.

"You call me crazy", Celia said, and Chin stopped his tracing of the operating table, looking back up at her. That dark smile was back.

"I'm not crazy. Just enlightened." Celia rolled her eyes. Chin stood up straighter and turned to the young scientist who was lingering in the doorway. "We've wasted too much valuable time. Prep it." The woman nodded, disappeared for a few seconds before coming back in holding a belt. Chin moved behind her head and began fiddling with some equipment.

The woman walked up to Celia, sneering at her. She grabbed Celia's chin, forcing her mouth open and placing the belt between her teeth. She then forced her mouth closed, and Celia bit down on the metal part too hard, hurting her teeth. Her cry was muffled, and she heard Chin swing around. "Careful!" He yelled at the young woman, and she flinched back. "She is not to be harmed!" The woman nodded and readjusted the belt, so Celia was biting down on just leather. She then left the room, head bowed. Celia almost felt sorry for the woman. Almost.

 _"Good to know Chin cares for you so much."_ 'N' muttered. Celia watched herself watched Chin. A strange look came over her face, and then she was glitching then 'N' was gone. Celia frowned. That's new.

She looked up at Chin standing over her head, watching as he rubbed two electric shockers together. The ones used for shock therapy. Oh, she was truly going to hate this. "Wouldn't want people to hear your screams," He mused, lining up the devices, "Though, they'd probably be drowned out by all the others." Meaning she was still in Arkham. There was that at least. Chin smiled that sickening smile.

"Let the experiment begin."

He placed the devices against her head and unbelievable pain shot through Celia's skull. She let out a muffled cry as every nerve ending in her body was lit on fire. Then memories were flashing behind her eyes. Pictures of guns, blood, dead bodies, unseeing eyes and a man dressed in black, a baseball bat being swung at his head, her reflection smiling back at her. Then the voices and sounds started.

_"I'm Celia."_

_"What a freak."_ Girlish laughing.

_"Killed using a baseball bat."_

_"She's very special."_

_"Dinner time!"_ A bell.

 _"Put your hands on your head."_ Gun clocking.

 _"With a baseball bat."_ Bat hitting someone's head. _"Baseball bat."_

_"Stay quiet."_

_"Not a word."_

_"He was murdered."_

_"Baseball bat."_

_"You are under arrest."_ Handcuff's shutting together. _"Under arrest."_

 _"Welcome home."_ Door shutting.

 _"Hi"_ Her Laughter _. "Hi"_

_"You did well."_

_"Good"_

_"I'll be your friend."_

_"Killed him…"_

_"Good job."_

**~~~**

Celia shot awake, sitting up in her bed. She looked around the room, breathing heavily. Panicked. She was in her Arkham Cell. Not The Roddy's bathroom. Or Chin's experimentation room. There were no mirrors in her room. Her reflection wasn't smiling back at her. Celia let out a breath, running a hand through her hair. Her forehead was sweaty. It had been a long time since she'd dreamed about that night.

Except she hadn't dreamed about it. Whatever Chin had done, it had forced her to relive that day. Or partially relive it. Forced her memories to resurface and become jumbled. Celia glanced out the window that showed the outside world. The sun looked to be rising. Meaning it was around 6am. Chin had kidnapped her, experimented on her and got her back to her room before first light.

She looked at the night table beside her bed to see her glasses were sitting on top of her book. She reached forward and grabbed them, putting them on. She watched the room come back into focus again. That had to have been her worse night since she'd killed Shane Fowler. Celia got up off the bed and walked towards the door, peaking out. A different guard was on duty. She looked away and sighed.

Chin was in Gotham and was working for Arkham Asylum. She'd always assumed Arkham was corrupted. People admitted didn't tend to get released. At least, not legally. Bribes or threats only seemed to get people released. So yeah, Arkham was corrupt. But she didn't think it was corrupt enough to hire a known psychotic serial killer. Although, Chin was an Antagan serial killer, so it's possible they didn't know?

She highly doubted it since it looked like Chin had his own guards and lair to conduct experiments in. She had to find a way to tell Leah. Celia didn't doubt that Chin probably monitored her every move. If not through cameras then through guards or other inmates. She'd have to be smart about altering Leah.

One thing was for certain. Chin wasn't finished with her yet. He had her at his complete disposal. She couldn't do much to stop his experiments. Especially if the employees of Arkham knew and weren't doing anything about it. She just couldn't figure out what he was trying to achieve. He wanted to meet 'N' but for what purpose? 'N' wasn't real, not really. She was a part of Celia. So what did Chin want with that part of herself? She wasn't sure she wanted to know.

**~~~**

"Celia! Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" Leah's arms wrapped around Celia in the tightest hug she'd ever gotten, and she grunted, holding back her flinch. Leah didn't notice and continued to bury her head in Celia's neck. "I'm so sorry", Leah uttered again, though it was muffled. Celia smiled, despite the fact, Leah couldn't see her. She wanted to wrap her arms around her friend, but she couldn't. They were currently cuffed.

"It's not your fault." Leah shook her head and took a step back, placing her arms on Celia's shoulders.

"It is my fault. I wasn't here," Celia shook her head, but Leah ignored it. "And I'm sorry I couldn't get here sooner," Leah wiped the tears from her eyes. "But I'm here now. And I'm going to help you get out." Leah smiled at her, though it was full of sadness and guilt. "I am going to get you out. You don't belong here."

 _"Yes, you do. And you know it."_ 'N's voice sounded, and Celia flinched at her darker self's harsh tone but nodded along to Leah's statement. Leah didn't seem to notice her sudden discomfort and led her to sit down at the table. Leah eyed Celia's cuffed hands and huffed.

"You don't need those." Celia glanced down at her hands. Being cuffed had become a familiar sight the past month. That's how long she'd been a patient at Arkham. One month. She'd been at Arkham for one horrible, pain-inducing, torturous month. Though, it felt more like one year.

Chin visited her every night. Every night she was sedated, strapped to a chair or table and put through some strange form of shock therapy. Sometimes, the shocks were small, but most of the time, it was enough to send her spiralling down memory lane. She'd remember more about her childhood the past month than in five years beforehand. Being forced to look back on her childhood every night made her realise how crappy it had actually been.

But whatever Chin was trying to achieve by shocking her into the past, it was beginning to work. 'N' was getting worse. Much worse. She didn't joke with Celia anymore. She only ever insulted, taunted or whispered dark things to her. She didn't really manifest as a whole other person anymore either. When she did, she was all glitchy. No, Celia only ever saw 'N' in reflections or heard her voice in her head. Celia figured it was her subconscious not liking getting shocked every night.

But while was 'N' worsening and getting more power, Celia was derailing. Her control was slipping. The reason she was required to wear cuffs around people was that 'N' had taken her over during a session with her psychiatrist and hit her across the head with her own book when she'd implied Celia's guilt was very real.

Apparently, 'N' had felt insulted. The psychiatrist ended up in the hospital with a fractured skull. Celia had been moved to isolation the next day. And changed psychiatrist, though her new one was just as incompetent. Celia figured it was all Chin's doing. Having her live in isolation, away from the other inmates meant the chances of someone discovering his late-night experiments were less.

She only ever interacted with the other inmates once a day, during lunch. They didn't come near her, despite the fact she no longer talked to herself all the time anymore. She'd gotten visitors though. Jim had visited her when he'd heard about the psychiatrist. Celia had lied and told him the medication they gave her caused anger issues. He hadn't looked like he believed her.

Lee and Harvey had also visited once they'd heard about the psychiatrist thought they'd seemed too preoccupied to truly scold her. Celia had apologised that she couldn't go to Lee's wedding and offered her sympathies for her husband's death. Lee had ranted about how horrible Jim was. Celia had nodded along. Harvey had told her the real reason Jim had shot Lee's husband. It sounded like something that would happen in Gotham.

Mayor Cobblepot had visited her once, though she couldn't understand why. He sort of fumbled his way through their chat. When she'd brought up Ed, a strange look past over his face. 'N' had been still hanging around her back then and accused the man of killing Isabella. She'd warned the mayor that Ed would find out, but he'd dismissed her, telling her it wouldn't happen.

Ed had visited her a few days later, telling her all about how Oswald Cobblepot had his girlfriend killed because he was jealous and in love with him. Celia had nodded along, pretending she didn't already know. Ed had become her most frequent visitor, keeping her updated on his revenge path for Isabella which had turned into his revenge path against Oswald Cobblepot recently.

They'd sort of become friends. When Ed had discovered her love of puzzles, he'd brought her a puzzle to solve during his next visit. It had taken him 43 seconds to solve it. She did it in 26 seconds. Her skills in puzzle solving had improved immensely since her stay in Arkham started. She'd already come up with several ways to escape the prison. She was seriously considering doing it if only to get away from Chin.

"Celia?" Leah's voice called, cutting her out of her remising. She blinked and blushed slightly.

"Sorry, I was thinking about my next session with my psychiatrist," Leah frowned, "I've been trying to convince him that ghosts exist and I've almost got him." A look passed over of Leah's face, one of worry, shock and…disappointment? But it was gone a second later.

"I see," She muttered before shaking her head, like trying to banish a thought. "Must be an important topic. Did you tell him 'N' was a ghost?" Leah joked, and Celia nodded. She hadn't told her psychiatrist about 'N'. He thought she had trust issues when it came to men and that was why she'd killed Shane Fowler. She was convincing the man that ghosts were real because she found their sessions boring, and watching him panic over his own briefs was much more entertaining. Cruel but entertaining.

"He thinks I'm insane", Celia said smiling. Leah frowned.

"Shouldn't you be convincing him that you actually sane? It's the only way you're going to get out of here." Celia blinked at Leah. She could try that, but as long as Chin still worked at Arkham, Celia wasn't going anywhere. He put so much effort into trying to get her admitted, he wasn't about to let her leave because she seemed sane.

"I have to look like I'm recovering from being insane. Otherwise, they wouldn't have put me in here." Celia said, and Leah nodded. The look on her face told Celia she believed her. Guilt flooded Celia. She didn't like lying to Leah, but she couldn't tell the woman the real reason she wasn't trying to appear more sane. At least not directly.

"How are you going?" She asked, and Celia sighed. Not good. Arkham was definitely testing her hold on sanity.

"Alright," Celia said instead, and Leah nodded. "It is hard, though. This place is a hell-hole." Celia said, watching as one of the guards sneered at her. "But I've lived in worse." Because she had. Leah nodded. She made to open her mouth, but her phone rang.

"Sorry. The only way I could come back to Gotham with Chin on the loose was as a police officer. I'm officially a member of the GCPD." Celia blinked. Leah joined the GCPD to come to Gotham? She grabbed her phone and answered the call. "Hello?" Celia watched emotions pass through Leah's face "You're kidding?… I'm at Arkham…A couple minutes. Why?" A massive bang exploded in the distance.

Leah sprang out of her seat towards the window, Celia in toe. Gotham City couldn't really be seen from the visitors' room. But the city's lights could. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But then the city lights began to go out. Celia's eyes watched as sections of Gotham went dark. Then the visitor's room plunged into darkness. All of Gotham, including Arkham, was suffering a blackout. Everything seemed to go quiet.

Then Celia heard the guards begin to move, and the shouting of the inmates increase. The screams became louder than ever. Celia turned to look at the light on the ceiling and saw Leah turn to look at her out of the corner of her eye. "The backup power should come back on any second." Because even Gotham wasn't stupid enough to let their asylum for the criminally insane lose power because of a blackout.

Sure enough, the light's flickered back on, and Celia let out a breath. Leah went back to her phone call. "Yeah, on my way," She then hung up, and Celia turned to look at her. "Duty calls." Celia smiled.

"It's okay. Go be a hero. I'll still be here when it's all over." Leah nodded and hugged her one last time. Celia took the opportunity to discreetly tuck a piece of paper in Leah's pocket. No one would have seen because the camera would only see Leah's back. Leah pulled back and smiled at her, remaining unaware of what Celia had done before heading towards the exit. A guard opened the door, and Celia watched her leave. Leah would find the piece of paper later. She'd find out what happened when Leah came back. She turned to look out at the silhouette of Gotham. She'd never seen a city go black before. It was strange.

A bang on the mental bars brought her attention. It was a guard, the one responsible for taking her back to her cell. She made to move, but he stopped her. "No, you not going anywhere," Celia frowned. She couldn't leave the visitors room? "Inmates are going berserk and your high risk. You stay here until everything is under control." Celia blinked but nodded her head. The guard then left. He was one she'd gotten to like her. Lane. Celia turned back to the window. At least staying here meant the chances of Chin visiting her were less or so she hoped…


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dr Chin's experiments start taking there toll...

_"Please stop."_

_"Never, baby."_

_"Get out."_ A scream.

_"Who are you?"_

_"You're just a child."_

_"A bat?!"_ Man's laughter.

_"Kill him."_

_"Let's have some fun."_

_"Solve this puzzle."_

_"Take it."_ Gunshot.

_"Good girl."_

_"Well done."_

_"N!"_ Manic laughter.

Celia shot up, eyes wide and full of panic. She blinked and looked around the room. Her Arkham cell. She was back in her Arkham cell. She let out the breath she was holding and closed her eyes. Just flashbacks. Just memories. Celia ran a hand through her hair and glanced out the window. It was bright outside, the sun high in the sky. Close to midday. She must of sleep in.

Chin had been very brutal to her last night. While it was true his 'shock therapy' was working on Celia, it wasn't working as fast as he would like. He'd been doing his experiments for a month, and a bit and Celia had only lost control of 'N' once. She wasn't breaking fast enough, and now that Leah was back in Gotham and determined to get her out of Arkham, the mad doctor was suddenly on a time limit.

So he'd upped her dosage last night, giving her the worst case of flashbacks yet. But Celia had still been in control when she woke up meaning it hadn't work. She didn't think the mad man would be too happy about it. Celia sighed and grabbed her glasses, putting them on before getting up and making her way to the door. Her head was killing her. She wouldn't be surprised he if didn't visit her tonight, just to give her brain cells a rest.

She made to knock on the door when the lock suddenly unclicked. Celia quickly took a few steps back as the door swung open and Lane appeared in the doorway. Celia felt herself sag in relief. "Rise and shine princess. Breakfast time." He said, voice gruff as always. He gave her a quick once over "Looks like you could use it." Celia smiled at the man and made to move, but he gave her a look. Celia rolled her eyes but held out her wrists.

Lane clipped the cuffs on, making sure they weren't too tight, before gesturing her to leave. She obeyed, following the now-familiar path to the dining room. Lane waited until they'd been walking for a few minutes to start talking. "Got word a few new freaks are joining your feeding group." He said. Celia looked at the man.

"Freak is a little harsh, don't you think?" Lane grunted but didn't correct himself. He never did.

"One of them is Jervis Tetch, the Mad Hatter. So eat quickly." Celia smiled at the man.

"Is that concern I hear in your voice, Lane?" She asked, and Lane rolled his eyes.

"Of course not. I just don't want to be the one to tell your cop friend you were killed by your fellow inmates." Celia rolled her eyes and shook her head. Lane was blunt. And one of the few people that knew about her late-night sessions with Chin as she'd come to call them. She figured the man had taken pity on her, which was why he didn't hate her. Or she'd charmed him. Celia wasn't entirely sure.

They reached the dining hall and Lane grabbed her lunch. A bowl full of chicken soup and a bit of stale bread. Yum. He unlocked the dining room and led her inside. He placed her lunch at a table, watched her sit down before making his way out to stand guard by the door. Since she was classified as a high-risk patient, Lane was her bodyguard of sorts. She wasn't allowed to go anywhere without him. He was a big guy.

Celia turned back to her bowl of soup. It wasn't bubbling. She wasn't allowed to eat at the same time as the other inmates, meaning her food was always the best. Lane had a good eye. Celia grabbed her spoon and dug in. The soup was a bit bland, and the chicken was overcooked, but it was better than yesterday's so Celia didn't complain. She sat eating her soup, ignoring the wandering eyes. They always stared.

"Who is she?" A croaky, damaged voice inquired. Celia blinked. They could be asking about someone else.

"The one in the handcuffs?" Kenny, a fellow inmate, asked. Nope, they were talking about her. Great. Must be one of the new inmates Lane was talking about. He sounded too croaky to be Jervis Tetch though. "That's Neita. Real psycho," Celia wanted to scoff. This coming from a man who murdered his whole family because he thought they were zombies? "She attacked her psychiatrist and put her in a coma." Her former psychiatrist was not in a coma. Not anymore, at least. Celia heard she was recovery far away from Arkham.

"That's it?" The damaged voice continued. "Doesn't sound very threatening ."

"Well, that's not the reason she's in those handcuffs," The man's voice was laced with fear. It made her wonder what rumours went around about her. "She talks to herself. Conversations about all kinds of freaky things. Like the best way to skin a man freaky." Celia resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Her conversations with 'N' weren't freaky. They only sounded strange because they were one-sided. And Celia was recovering from being sedated too heavily the night before, so she'd been incredibly loopy when they'd had that discussion.

"Sounds like my kind of girl." The distorted, damaged voice said, and Celia controlled her shiver. She did not need this. Not now. Celia tuned out the rest of their conversation, not wanting to hear about their ideas. None of it really mattered anyway. Celia sped up her eating regardless. Lane was supposed to take her to a session with her psychiatrist after lunch.

She'd just finished her bread when a poor excuse of a whistle came near her. She heard someone side into the seat across from her and looked up. She almost jumped. It was a redhead with crazed eyes, but his face had a bunch of stitches in it. Like it had been cut off then stitched back on. His lips were shaped strangely. "Hi, I'm Jerome."

Celia blinked. This was Jerome Valeska? The man who had a literal underground cult dedicated to his crimes. Leah had told her he'd died, been resurrected and caused the city-wide blackout. And they called her a psycho. "Celia." She smiled at him, and he smiled back though it only sent shivers up her back.

"A little birdie told me you had a very special friend?" He said, looking at her expectedly. Celia wanted to groan. Figures the crazy redhead would be after 'N'. "One who speaks words of wisdom?" He continued, and Celia resisted her urge to slap the man. She wouldn't classify different methods of killing as wisdom.

 _"This man is clearly very enlightened."_ 'N's voice sounded, and Celia watched her glitch into existence next to Jerome. She smiled and laughed but kept glitching. _"Though his plastic surgery is horrible. I could do so much better."_ Celia felt her hand twitch and moved them both under the table. Jerome noticed her gaze and glanced to his left, a big grin coming onto his face.

"Looks like your friend showed up." He said, and Celia smiled at him, though it held no kindness.

"Was there something you needed?" Because she needed to leave. Like now. Before something happened. Jerome smiled widely at her.

"I was just wondering if I could also be your friend." Celia gave him a look. The last thing she needed was to get into a pact with a serial killer who probably wanted nothing more than to escape. "A girl could use a friend or two in here." He continued, a strange emotion entering his voice. He probably meant for it to be sympathetic, but his distorted voice cords ruined it.

 _"He'd make a useful 'friend'."_ 'N' offered, but Celia ignored her. She laughed and glitched out of existence. She never thought she'd miss the times when 'N' would just disappear.

"I've managed to survive a month and several weeks in this hell-hole without a friend." Jerome smiled darkly at her.

"Yeah, but that was before I showed up. I'm going to change Arkham!" He shouted, gaining the attention of the other inmates. Jerome continued, oblivious to his listeners. "And in my Arkham, you're going to need a friend." The look in Jerome's eyes told her he meant business. While she doubted her stay in Arkham would be much longer, Leah had yet to find her puzzle but all in good time, she highly doubted Jerome was a man that liked to waste time. Celia sighed.

"Okay, you can be my friend," An accomplished smile came onto Jerome features. "But don't expect too much. I'm not some criminal mastermind." Jerome leaned forward, resting on his arms.

"But you are a genius." Celia gave him a look. "Word is you have three PhDs." He looked as the monitoring guard passed by. "And worked as a forensic scientist." Jerome looked back at her, smiling wide. "A useful skill set to have at my disposal." Celia blinked then glared at him.

"I'm your 'friend', not your 'tool'." She growled, and Jerome leaned back, looking slightly taken back but he recovered quickly and smiled. He sat back down.

"Noted." He held out his hand. "To a bright friendship." Celia blinked at it for a few seconds before raising her hand and grabbing his hand.

"That lasts as long as our legacies." Jerome's smile grew at her words, and they shook hands, her cuffs jingling at the movement. She'd just made a partnership with a known serial killer. Arkham has truly changed her.

**~~~**

"And that is why you should always look behind you", Celia concluded and watched as her psychiatrist, Dr Dowling, nodded his head, face pale. His eyes did a quick glance around the room. She smiled innocently at the man. She'd managed to convince the man that ghosts were real. Now, she was seeing how far she could take it. She'd planted the idea that ghosts were always watching them in their last session and was seeing how much he'd thought about it since then.

Turned out to be a lot. He was pale, had massive bags under his eyes and was extremely jumpy, eyes searching the room every few seconds. It was very amusing. A voice scoffed.

 _"Listen to yourself."_ It was 'N'. _"You call me sadistic, and yet you've made this man fear his own mind."_ Celia watched as Dr Dowling loosened his tie and took a big swing of water. _"For your own amusement."_ Celia looked down at her hands and waited for the guilt to overflow her. To consume her and make her feel normal. Make her feel like Celia Neita, the forensic scientist.

But like every other time 'N' comforted her about her little game, the guilt never came. Celia didn't feel guilty about what she was doing to her psychiatrist for fun. 'N' laughed. _"You don't even feel guilty about it."_ Celia looked up to see Dr Dowling rubbing the back of his neck. A nervous tick. _"Admit it, this is who you are."_ Celia closed her eyes and shook her head.

"No! This is Arkham's doing!" She yelled, and Dr Dowling jumped.

"What?" He asked, and Celia blinked at the man. He looked utterly terrified. Celia had two options; she could end it all now, proclaim it was one big game and let the man recover or she could continue and keep breaking his man's mind. She closed her eyes. She'd made her choice the minute she'd started this little project. She opened her eyes and smiled at the man.

"Nothing, it's nothing. Just one of the ghosts telling me a secret." Dr Dowling frowned and sat up straighter.

"You talk to them?" He asked, and Celia nodded.

"Yeah, they're my friends." The man looked at her with hesitation and glanced around the room. Celia smiled. "And they can be your friends too." She said, and Dr Dowling looked at her with fear and hope.

"Really?" He asked. Celia nodded.

"Yep. At the minute, they don't like you very much," Celia pouted, and Dr Dowling got a panicked look over his face, glancing around the room. "Don't like the fact that you think I'm lying." Dr Dowling looked back at her.

"I don't think your lying." He said quickly with certainty. Celia held a hand over her heart.

"You don't?" The man shook his head fiercely.

"Of course not." Celia smiled at the man.

"Well, they're happy to hear that," She paused as if listening to a silent conversation. "But it's not enough for them," Dr Dowling's smile dropped. "They need more." He stood up.

"Like what? What do I need to do to get them to like me?" He asked, sounding desperate. Celia held in her laugh. It truly was amusing.

"Help me." She said, and the man blinked.

"Help you?" Celia nodded.

"Help me out if I ever need you. They promise not to hurt you if you help me." Dr Dowling blinked. The moment of truth. Emotions flashed behind the psychiatrist's eyes before lowering himself into the chair, nodding his head.

"Yeah, okay. I'll help you." Celia smiled. She had him.

"Excellent." Dr Dowling looked at her and smiled slightly. Dr Dowling wasn't enough to have her declared sane. That was the head psychiatrist's job, and Celia knew Chin had that man in his pocket. But it felt nice to have someone on her side in the hell-hole that was Arkham. Jerome may be her 'friend', but the man was too unpredictable to be trusted. Celia just wished she felt guilty about how she'd managed to achieve Dr Dowling's trust.

**~~~**

"I don't trust this Edward Nygma." Lane said as he led her towards the visitors' room. "He's a freak." Celia rolled her eyes. Lane was blunt, but he was incredibly ironic as well.

"Ed is a lot like me. He has a high I.Q, was a forensic scientist, killed a man and was sent to Arkham. Does being similar to him make me a freak as well?" She asked Lane, and he grunted, unlocking a door.

"Yes. But you're a nice freak." Celia gave him a look, and Lane rolled his eyes. "Well, the nicest freak I've ever met in this job at least." Celia smiled at the man. The man was a big softy. He unlocked the door to the visitors' room, and Celia walked in, eyes landing on Ed's figure standing by the window. It was the first time she'd seen him in weeks. He hadn't come to visit her since the Gotham blackout. She heard Lane lock the door. She glanced at the table to see a box and piece of paper sitting onto of it. She smiled and made her to sit down.

"You going to keep staring out the window?" She asked Ed. The man jumped as if startled from his thoughts and turned to look at her. "The view is amazing." Ed smiled and made his way over, sitting down.

"I was simply thinking." He stated, and Celia nodded.

"About what?" She'd learnt over the course of the past two months that Ed liked to think out loud. So, she often tried to humour him. It gave her something else to think about as well. He looked at her curiously.

"I can fill a room or just one heart. Others may have me, but I cannot be shared. What am I?" Celia smiled and shook her head. Figures Edward Nygma would be thinking about riddles.

"Loneliness." She stated, and a strange look overcame Ed's face. He'd never reacted to her answering one of his riddles like that before. He opened his mouth and asked another one.

"I can be a member of a group, but I can never blend in. What am I?" Celia frowned. She'd never seen Ed like this before. She wasn't exactly sure where he was heading with these riddles, but Celia answered anyway.

"Individual." She said, and that look passed through Ed's eyes again, only it was more prominent. He opened his mouth and asked yet another riddle.

"I feel your every move, I know your every thought, I'm with you from birth, and I'll see you when you rot. What am I?" The earnest in his voice was troubling. Like her answer truly mattered to him. Celia took in a deep breath. She hoped he was okay.

"Your reflection." A look of utter fascination and anger passed through Ed's eyes, and Celia almost flinched back. Had she said something wrong?

"See!" He yelled. "You get it! You know it! So how could they not?" Ed stood up out of his chair in anger. It had been a while since Celia had felt so confused. But then again, Ed Nygma was a riddle himself.

"Is something wrong, Ed?" She asked, and Ed turned to look at her. He looked extremely stressed. Celia frowned in concern. He took in a few deep breaths.

"I apologise. I'm not myself these days." He stated, coming back and sitting down again. He grabbed the piece of paper and dragged it towards him. Celia quickly glanced at it and realised it was a page full of riddles. He took out a pen and crossed out the top three.

"Did something happen?" She asked, and he looked at her, leaning forward on his elbows and looking completely lost. He waited a few seconds before speaking.

"I'm sure you know that Oswald and I never left crime behind." Celia nodded her head. She did know that. It's all she'd really heard about from him in his past visits. "Well, Oswald recently said there was no me without him," Ed paused, looking up and directly into her eyes. "I shot him and dumped him in the river," He said bluntly, and Celia blinked. Ed killed Oswald? She wasn't completely surprised. The kingpin did kill the women he'd loved. Ed continued talking. "He was a sort of guide to me on my journey."

He looked away from Celia. "I know who I am, Celia," Ed closed his eyes in frustration and clenched his fists. "It's how to be him that is eluding me. I've been trying to seek guidance, but nothing is working." He finished, looking back at her. Celia blinked, shocked. Ed had never unloaded so much onto her. She almost felt bad for all the psychologist in the world. Almost.

When he realised Celia was contemplating her answer, Ed stood up and made his way to the window. Celia took the chance to steal back the piece of paper. She also stole his pen. She quickly filled out all the answers to his riddles as she came up with a way to comfort Ed. She could relate to his struggle of trying to find out how to be yourself. She battled that struggle every day now.

She'd yet to tell Ed about 'N'. She suspected he knew about 'N'. Or knew she was struggling with something haunting her. She hadn't exactly been subtle in their last meeting. She'd spent half the time glaring at 'N' as she mocked Ed's plan for revenge. He'd notice but hadn't said anything. She flipped over the page and quickly wrote out her own riddle for the man to solve. She'd think he'd like it. She put the pen down and slide the paperback.

"I have a split personality," She said and heard Ed swing around at the sound of her voice. She kept her gaze on the box though, as she began opening it. "I call her 'N' and she represents everything I reject about myself." It was the first time she was willingly telling someone about 'N'. Everyone else had discovered by accident. She watched as the wrapping paper fell off the box and revealed a wooden puzzle box. Celia smiled and got to work on solving it.

"Since being imprisoned here, I've come to realise that there are some aspects of ourselves that we can only reject or stay blind to for so long," She pressed the final button on the puzzle box and watched it fall apart, revealing a flower on the inside. She glanced up at the clock. 16 seconds. "And sometimes, it takes a little guidance from someone we don't expect to show us the way." Celia looked at Ed.

"I can't give you the guidance you seek, Ed. I'm an inmate of Arkham Asylum that yells at her own reflection in a mirror. But I can offer you a word of wisdom," She turned back to the flower and picked it up. "When you finally do figure out how to be him, make sure to embrace what makes you, you." She smiled at the former chief of staff, and Ed smiled back at her. There was no judgement in his eyes at all, and Celia actually felt understood for the first time in her life.

**~~~**

Ed felt truly understood for the first time in his life too. When he skimmed over the piece of paper, smiling at every correct answer as he waited for Fox, and saw her riddle. 'I am a puzzle with a wordy facade. There's always an answer, even if it seems odd. Only the clever can understand my code. If you don't answer, then you'll never know. What am I?' Ed smiled more brightly. A riddle. Yes, Celia understood him better then he understood himself. He was The Riddler.

**~~~**

"Hold her down." Chin's voice rang, and Celia tried to wiggle away, but it was useless. His men were too strong. They grabbed her limps and held her down as Chin injected another vial of burning liquid into her blood system. Celia bit down on the belt in her mouth even harder, trying to will the pain away.

Chin had finally lost his patience and decided mental torture wasn't enough. For the past week, he'd been physically torturing her as well. Injecting strange drugs into her system. One of them had caused her to hallucinate a demonic version of 'N', another had caused her unbelievable nausea for hours but nothing else. The most frequent one he used was the one he'd just injected. The one that sent her pain receptors into overdrive. It was horrible.

Celia felt her eyes water as the pain spread through her body. She opened her eyes and watched as 'N' glitched in and out of existence, but the pain was too much and she closed them again. Eventually, though, the pain began to subside. "Let her go", Chin ordered, and Celia felt the pressure on top of her go away. She took in a deep breath.

 _"Are you just going to continue to take this?"_ 'N's voice sounded. Celia kept on taking deep breaths. _"This man is torturing you. Torturing us! What he is doing is far worse than anything Shane Fowler did. And you're just letting him!"_ Celia flinched at 'N's volume. But her darker reflection had a point. She'd killed Shane Fowler for threatening her while Dylan Chin was torturing her. Why was she so against letting 'N' at him?

 _"Give me control. Let me show him that he should never underestimate us."_ 'N' urged and Celia thought it over. She did want to teach China lesson. She wanted to hurt him. 'N' could do that much better than she ever could. _"Damn it! Listen to your own advice for once and be yourself!"_ 'N' was referring to her talk with Ed. If Ed could be himself, then Celia could too. Just this once, Celia could embrace 'N'. Celia took in a deep breath. She could do this.

"Okay."

If Chin wanted to meet 'N', then he'll meet 'N'. Celia felt a pleasurable rush overcome her as she opened her eyes and quickly sat up, taking the closet guard by surprise. She reached down and pulled his knife from his pocket before he could react and used it to slash his jugular veins. Celia rolled off the operating table as blood sprayed everywhere, and the muscular guard fell to the ground. She heard choking before silence.

"Whoa." Chin sounded then he was laughing. Laughing from pure joy. The other large guard in the room reacted a bit too slowly, allowing Celia to stab him in the leg. In his femoral artery. He cursed and fell to the ground. Celia took the chance to slice his throat open too. Chin was still laughing in the background, thoroughly enjoying Celia lose it. She stood up and threw the knife at him, hitting him square in the shoulder.

Chin stopped laughing and cursed, gripping the injured shoulder. He looked up at Celia in pure shock like the idea she ever wanted to hurt him hadn't crossed his mind. Celia laughed at that. His arrogance was unbelievable. Celia punched Chin and sent him stumbling back. She raised her hand and made to slap him, but he moved his face far enough back that she scratched him instead. And she'd gone two months without a clip, so her nails were pretty long and sharp.

They cut his face and eye, and the man cried out, stumbling back to hit the wall. Celia looked at her fingernails and smiled. She wiped her hand down the side of her clothes, cleaning away the blood before raising her hand to slap Chin again. That was when a gunshot sounded, and pain erupted in her hand. Celia cried out and stumble slightly, gripping her hand. A gunshot wound was in her hand. The bullet had gone straight through.

She looked up to see Chin's crazy psychiatrist seething, a bunch of guards standing behind her, guns raised. "Get away from him, you bitch!" She screeched and raised her handgun to fire at her again. But she never got the chance. The sound of another gun sounded; a machine gun. And the guards surrounding the woman dropped like flies. She spun around, preparing to fire had whoever interrupted her and Celia took the chance to ram the woman into the back, sending her tumbling to the ground.

The handgun landed a few feet away, and the woman made to reach for it, but a foot stepped on it, stopping her. Celia followed the leg up to see Lane standing there, a machine gun aimed at the woman's head. Celia closed her eyes in relief. "Don't even think about it, freak!" He growled, and Celia couldn't help herself. She giggled. The situation wasn't funny. She had blood on her face, on her glasses and her hand had a hole in it. But she giggled anyway. Arkham had truly screwed with her sanity.

"And they call me crazy." A damaged voice sounded, and Celia looked behind Lane to see Jerome standing there, looking proud of himself. Like he'd discovered a massive secret. "Your friend is crazy." He said, nodding at Celia. She smiled. 'N' was crazy but Celia wasn't entirely sure if 'N' had done all that. She'd felt that pleasurable rush but didn't feel that loss of control that came when 'N' took over. It was strange.

"Are you okay?" Lane asked, and Celia glanced down at her hand she currently had wrapped in her other one before looking back up at Lane, knowing he'd followed her gaze. "So, not okay?" Celia shook her head. Jerome came to look over Lane's shoulder.

"Oh, that's pretty bad." He murmured, and Celia smiled.

"Not as bad as your face." She countered, and Jerome blinked at her. Then he burst out into laughter. Lane shook his head.

"Freaks." He muttered, kicking away the crazy psychiatrist's gun when she reached for it again. Jerome noticed her and squatted down in front of her.

"What's your name, gorgeous?" He asked as the woman slowly sat up, eyeing everyone wearily.

"Winona." Jerome nodded, muttering the name under his breath. Celia watched him with hesitance. Suddenly, Jerome shoved her face up against the wall, smiling a big grin. "You tell no one about this Winona or I'm going to get very upset," He glanced at Celia before looking back at Winona. "You hurt my friend after all, and do you know what I do to people who hurt my friends?" Winona whimpered and tried to shake her head. Jerome pondered for a few seconds before busting out into laughter and not finishing his question.

He let go Winona and stood back up, glancing into the experiment room where Chin was lying unconscious from Celia's attack. He then looked back at Winona. "Clean him up. I like him." He said before looking at Celia, who was giving him a fierce glare. He shrugged "I do!" Lane ignored Jerome and made his way over to Celia.

"We should get you medical attention. Anyone, you trust?" Celia pondered her options. There was someone who could help. Dr Dowling could make do on his promise. She nodded and allowed Lane to wrap his arm around her waist, leading her away from the experiment room with Jerome skipping in toe.

"What are you even doing here?" She asked. She knew Lane liked her, but she didn't think he'd kill for her. Lane huffed.

"Taking care of my charge." He said, and Celia nodded. Naturally. Jerome wandered up next to her.

"And I'm looking out for my 'friend'." He said, and Celia smiled at the man. Jerome was crazy, but it was bringing to grow on her. Not like she could judge. She'd just killed two people and had encouraged Ed Nygma to embrace his villainous persona. Celia sighed. Any hope of her becoming Dr Celia Neita, forensic scientist again had just gone up in flames. Strangely, Celia didn't feel too disappointed…


End file.
